A  Visit  to  Yale-in-China 

June  1920 

An  Account  of  Changsha  and  of  the  Conditions 
and  Needs  of  Ya-li  Prepared  at  the  Request 
of  The  Board  of  Trustees  by 

Anson  Phelps  Stokes 


New  Haven  Connecticut 
Yale  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
Mdccccxx 


\/ii 


Contents 


Page 

1.  The  City  of  Changsha,  6 

2.  The  Local  Political  Situation,  9 

3.  The  First  Impressions  of  Ya-li — Campus  and  Personnel,  13 

4.  The  Organization  and  Interrelation  of  Departments,  17 

5.  The  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  19 

6.  The  Preparatory  Department,  21 

7.  The  Medical  College  and  Pre-medical  School,  23 

8.  The  Nursing  Schools,  26 

9.  The  Hospital,  27 

10.  The  Life  of  Ya-li,  29““" 

11.  The  Influence  of  Ya-li,  31 

12.  The  Growth  and  Resources  of  Ya-li,  32 

13.  The  Policy  of  Ya-li,  35 

14.  The  Needs  of  Ya-li,  41 

15.  The  Significance  of  Ya-li,  48 


A  Visit  to  Yale-in-China 


To  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  Yale-in-China, 

Gentlemen : 

I  AM  submitting  herewith  as  requested  a  report  of  my  visit  to 
Changsha  and  Ya-li  last  June.  It  had  been  our  original  pur¬ 
pose  to  proceed  across  country  from  Canton,  a  trip  which  in 
normal  times  could  have  been  made  in  about  a  fortnight,  going 
all  of  the  way,  except  for  the  hundred  miles  of  railroad  from 
Canton,  by  boat,  horse  and  chair.  But  the  disturbed  political 
situation  in  southern  Hunan  made  this  trip  impossible,  the  district 
having  been  during  the  past  year  the  field  of  serious  clashes  be¬ 
tween  the  Northern  and  Southern  troops.  We  therefore  went  by 
way  of  the  Yangtse  River  following  the  itinerary  outlined  in 
Mr.  Leavens’  excellent  “Information  for  Intending  Visitors.” 
My  wife  and  I  found  the  three  days  trip  from  Shanghai  to  Han¬ 
kow  by  boat  most  comfortable  and  delightful.  It  is  a  trip  which  no 
visitor  to  China  should  miss.  F rom  the  upper  decks  one  gets  an 
interesting  and  intimate  view  of  the  life  of  farms  and  villages, 
and  is  impressed  with  the  extraordinary  industry  of  the  people 
everywhere.  There  are  many  picturesque  temples,  and  at  certain 
places  where  the  mountains  come  near  the  river  the  scenery  is  \ery 
attractive.  The  steamer  makes  stops  at  several  places,  including 
Nanking,  the  former  capital,  and  Kiu-Kiang,  the  port  from  which 
the  summer  station,  Ruling,  can  be  reached  in  a  few  hours.  We 
spent  a  day  in  Hankow,  the  principal  commercial  center  of  cential 
China,  and  from  there  took  a  smaller  but  comfortable  steamer 
which  enabled  us  to  reach  Changsha  in  a  day  and  a  half.  We 
arrived  on  Thursday,  June  3d,  and  remained  until  the  12th. 

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A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

i.  THE  CITY  OF  CHANGSHA 

Changsha,  which  is  a  city  of  about  300,000  inhabitants,  is  built 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Siang  River.  The  approach  is  attractive 
owing  to  the  hilly  nature  of  the  country,  with  a  beautiful  wooded 
mountain — Yolosan — immediately  opposite  the  city.  This  moun¬ 
tain,  with  its  ancient  educational  and  religious  institutions  and 
its  forests,  adds  greatly  to  the  charm  of  the  whole  neighborhood. 
As  one  approaches  the  city  the  supply  stations  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company  and  of  the  Asiatic  Petroleum  Company  are  seen  on 

opposite  banks,  as  well  as  a  large  cotton  factory  built  by  a  Chinese 
firm. 

The  river  at  Changsha  is  over  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad,  with 
a  long,  narrow  island  in  the  center  on  which  are  a  few  simple  but 
attractive  European  residences,  including  the  British  Consulate. 
The  city  is  distinguished  for  being  the  only  one  in  China  which 
has  a  stone  embankment  or  “Bund”  built  by  a  Chinese  munici¬ 
pality.  It  is  also  noticeable  for  better  streets  and  shops  than  are 
to  be  found  in  other  cities  of  its  size.  It  is  unfortunate  from  the 
standpoint  of  picturesqueness  that  the  ancient  wall  with  its  gates 
has  been  largely  demolished,  but  if  the  proposed  broad  driveway 
is  substituted,  it  will  not  be  without  its  advantages.  On  the  Bund 
are  the  American  and  Japanese  Consulates,  the  offices  of  the  three 
steamship  companies  Jardine,  Matheson  and  Company,  Butter¬ 
field  and  Swiie,  and  the  Nisshin  Kisen  Kaisha, — the  Customs 
Office,  the  Asia  Banking  Corporation  (the  only  foreign  banking 
company  as  yet  represented  in  Changsha),  and  the  office  of 
Andersen,  Meyer  and  Company,  the  well-known  firm  of  contract¬ 
ing  engineers.  Opposite  the  Bund,  on  our  arrival,  were  a  few 
Chinese  junks,  a  river  steamer,  and  American,  Japanese  and 
Chinese  gunboats.  During  our  stay  a  British  gunboat  was  added. 
The  city  has  made  a  start  in  electric  light  and  telephone  service, 
but  there  is  no  water  supply  or  sewerage  system.  There  is  a  com¬ 
plete  absence  of  automobiles,  carriages,  and  bicycles,  although 
there  are  a  few  jinrikishas.  Man  power  is  alone  used  for  trans¬ 
portation,  and  the  coolies  carrying  on  balanced  poles  every  kind 
of  material  and  merchandise,  and  making  a  strange  rhythmic 
sound  as  they  move  along  on  a  dog-trot,  are  one  of  the  most 
characteristic  sights  of  this  as  of  every  other  Chinese  city.  The 

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A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

street  scenes  are  constantly  changing,  and  most  picturesque.  One 
never  wearies  of  them,  although  the  number  of  blind,  and  of  those 
disfigured  by  disease  is  distressing.  The  noises  of  vendors  and  the 
creaking  of  wheelbarrows  used  to  carry  heavy  loads  are  often 
deafening,  but  the  streets  are  better  paved  and  cleaner,  and  the 
odors  correspondingly  less  pervasive  than  in  most  Chinese  cities. 
The  most  impressive  buildings  are  the  two  Confucian  Temples. 
Their  paved  courtyards,  flights  of  stone  steps,  high  walls  and 
temples  with  curved  yellow  tiled  roofs  and  massive  teak  columns 
leave  an  impression  of  much  architectural  beauty  and  of  a  certain 
moral  dignity.  They  are  used  only  once  or  twice  a  year  for  formal 
patriotic  services  in  honor  of  Confucius.  The  lines  of  the  build¬ 
ings  are  charming,  the  general  plans  admirable,  the  old  cypress 
trees  picturesque,  but  the  places  are  ill-kept  and  deserted  unless 
occupied  by  the  soldiers.  They  are  lacking  in  the  atmosphere  of 
worship. 

Changsha  is  one  of  the  “open  ports”  of  China,  the  two  others 
in  the  province  of  Hunan  being  Yochow  and  Changteh.  Under 
the  extra-territoriality  laws,  foreigners,  unless  they  are  mission¬ 
aries,  are  not  allowed  to  reside  in  China  except  in  an  open  port, 
and  there  they  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  their  consul.  The 
importance  of  Changsha  from  the  standpoint  of  the  foreign 
merchant  is  due  partly  to  its  being  the  capital  of  the  province, 
and  partly  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  natural  center  of  the  tea,  coal, 
antimony  and  wood  trade  which  represent  the  province’s  main 
exports.  The  antimony  deposits  are  said  to  be  the  largest  in  the 
world.  Both  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  are  found  in  quanti¬ 
ties  in  the  mountains,  as  are  also  iron,  copper,  lead  and  zinc. 
As  a  result  several  factories  have  been  started  by  the  Chinese  to 
the  south  of  the  walled  city,  which  is  fortunately  at  the  extreme 
end  of  Changsha  from  Ya-li,  the  neighborhood  of  the  latter 
being  more  likely  to  develop  as  a  residential  section.  The  whole 
trade  of  Changsha,  as  reported  by  the  Customs  in  1917,  was  a 
little  over  27,000,000  *taels;  while  the  direct  foreign  trade  for 
that  year,  the  latest  for  which  statistics  are  available,  was 
1,358,882  taels.  This  is,  however,  increasing  very  rapidly. 

The  foreign  population  of  the  city  (excluding  Japanese)  is 
about  200,  including  children.  Of  this  total  Ya-li  contributes  about 

♦Under  normal  conditions  a  tael  equals  67  cents  gold. 

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A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

one-third,  foreign  missionaries  of  both  Catholics  and  Protestants, 
another  third,  and  the  remaining  three  or  four  score  persons  are 
mainly  connected  with  the  various  firms  and  offices  named. 

We  were  met  at  the  steamer  by  the  Gages  and  Dr.  Yen,  and  as 
it  was  the  King’s  birthday,  were  immediately  rowed  across  the 
river  to  the  British  Consulate  where  a  charming  garden  party  was 
being  held.  This  gave  us  an  opportunity  to  meet  the  most  promi¬ 
nent  foreign  residents,  including  the  official,  business  and  mission¬ 
ary  groups.  The  first  impression  which  we  derived,  and  one  which 
continued  and  increased  during  our  ten  days’  stay  in  Changsha, 
was  that  there  is  not  the  sharp  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
missionary  and  non-missionary  elements  here  that  is  unfortun¬ 
ately  to  be  met  with  in  most  large  cities  in  China.  I  found  among 
the  business  men  and  foreign  officials  some  of  the  staunchest 
friends  of  the  Yale  Mission;  in  fact  many  of  them  spoke  to  me  of 
it  in  terms  of  special  appreciation.  It  was  delightful  to  find  the 
little  community  containing  so  many  men  and  women  of  breadth, 
social  refinement  and  ideals,  so  that  our  Ya-li  families  feel  that 
there  are  enough  different  types  and  kinds  of  people  with  con¬ 
genial  outlook  to  provide  an  agreeable  social  life. 

The  people  of  Changsha  are  noted  for  their  superior  intelli¬ 
gence  and  their  high  spirit.  As  the  capital  city  of  Hunan — the 
province  which  kept  out  all  foreigners  until  the  very  end  of  the 
last  century — it  has  much  prestige  among  the  Chinese.  It  has 
been  the  home  of  distinguished  scholars  and  patriots,  and  their 
family  houses,  with  large  gardens,  still  give  the  little  changed 
old  inner  or  walled  city  a  certain  dignity,  while  the  number  of 
persons  of  ability  and  character  that  one  meets  in  the  streets 
is  striking.  Practically  all  foreigners  who  live  among  the 
Chinese  like  them,  respect  them  and  believe  in  them — and  this  is 
particularly  true  of  the  foreign  residents  of  Changsha.  The  last 
named  are  treated  with  as  much  respect  by  the  native  inhabitants 
as  they  would  be  by  their  fellow  citizens  in  an  American  city. 

So  our  first  impressions  were  that  the  city  was  better  built  and 
more  attractively  situated  than  most  Chinese  cities,  that  the 
various  groups  of  foreigners  were  more  congenial,  and  that  the 
native  population  was  a  superior  and  friendly  one. 


8 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

2.  THE  LOCAL  POLITICAL  SITUATION 

It  is  necessary  for  any  understanding  of  conditions  at  Ya-li 
that  the  essential  features  of  the  local  political  situation  at  the 
time  of  our  visit  should  be  understood.  China  during  the  past  two 
years  has  been  a  divided  country.  About  two-thirds  of  the  eighteen 
provinces  are  nominally  affiliated  with  the  fedeial  government 
at  Peking.  The  remaining  provinces  in  the  south  and  soutnwest 
have  broken  away  because  of  differences  growing  out  of  a  dispute 
on  the  subject  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  existing  Parliament.  The 
Northerners  claim  that  the  present  federal  Parliament  is  the 
only  legitimate  successor  of  the  one  duly  elected  in  Yuan  Shih- 
kai’s  time.  The  Southerners,  whose  leaders  have  been  more  in¬ 
sistent  on  progressive  policies,  deny  their  rivals’  claims.  The  Post 
Office,  the  Customs  and  the  Salt  Gabelle,  the  only  departments  of 
the  government  under  direct  foreign  supervision  or  control,  alone 
function  nationally  in  anything  like  a  normal  way.  To  be  sure, 
China  as  a  whole  was  represented  at  the  Peace  Conference,  the 
President,  who  is  a  moderate  man  of  little  foice  but  good  pur¬ 
pose,  having  appointed  Mr.  C.  T.  Wang,  Yale  iqio,  one  of  the 
most  promising  men  in  China  and  a  Southern  sympathizer,  as  one 
of  her  representatives;  but  in  general  a  line  of  separation  between 
North  and  South  has  run  through  the  province  of  Hunan,  and 
Changsha,  where  the  sympathies  have  been  with  the  South,  has 
been  one  of  the  prizes  for  which  they  have  been  fighting.  It  must 
also  be  remembered  that  the  North  is  again  subdivided  into  two 
groups  known  as  the  Chihli  party  and  the  Anfuites,  but  these 
parties  are  merely  factions  of  rival  political  leaders.  The  public 
has  no  interest  in  their  manoeuvers,  except  that  most  of  the  in¬ 
telligent  men  of  high  purpose  are  particularly  opposed  to  the 
Anfuites  because  of  the  general  belief  that  they  are  under  the 
domination  of  Japan,  and  Japan  is  distrusted  in  China  because 
of  her  past  policy  of  commercial  and  political  aggression. 

The  governor  in  Changsha  when  we  arrived  was  Chang  Ching- 
yao,  a  corrupt  official  who  had  secured  his  position  because  of 
the  military  backing  which  he  was  able  to  provide,  and  who  was 
holding  the  job  of  Tuchun,  or  Military  Governor,  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  making  as  much  money  as  possible  for  his  own  profit. 
He  was  connected  with  the  Anfuite  party  and  was  thoroughly 

9 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 
selfish.  Fortunately  we  were  present  when  he  was  driven  from 
the  city  by  the  Southern  troops  under  General  Tan  Yen-kai, 
former  Governoi  of  Hunan,  who,  although  not  a  man  of  great 
executive  force,  has  been  highly  respected  in  the  community  and 
is  a  warm  friend  of  Ya-li,  as  his  gift  of  land  to  the  College  and 
his  votive  tablet  in  the  Hospital  testify. 

The  political  storm  was  brewing  at  the  time  of  our  arrival.  The 
wealthier  classes  were  removing  their  families  to  Hankow,  the 
jewelers,  silversmiths  and  art  dealers  were  sending  away  their 
most  valuable  articles,  the  reins  of  the  military  police  were  tight¬ 
ening,  and  everyone  knew  that  Governor  Chang’s  days  were 
numbered.  Finally,  on  June  12th,  the  Southerners  entered  the 
city  to  the  great  joy  of  the  inhabitants,  but  only  after  Chang  had 
burned  the  Yamen,  blown  up  such  military  stores  as  he  could 
not  carry  with  him,  and  evacuated  most  of  his  army.  There  was 
no  organized  fighting  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  but  a  large 
amount  of  sniping  took  place.  Even  the  British  river  steamer  on 
which  we  left  the  city  under  the  escort  of  a  gunboat  was  fired 
upon  frequently  by  Southern  sympathizers  because  it  was  rightly 
believed  to  be  carrying  a  good  many  representatives  of  the  de¬ 
parting  Northern  army.  There  was  satisfaction  on  all  sides  that 
General  Chang  had  been  put  to  flight.  He  took  refuge  in  the  in¬ 
ternational  settlement  of  Hankow,  and  his  corrupt  and  tyrannical 
rule  is  now  a  thing  of  the  past.  He  had  most  of  Hunan  in  his  power 
for  two  years,  and  as  Changsha  is  its  capital,  the  city  has  suffered 
terribly.  While  I  was  there  he  had  a  conference  with  some  of  the 
Chinese  gentry  representing  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  whom  I 
met,  and  handed  them  an  ultimatum  that  every  shop  in  the  city 
must  be  opened  the  next  day  (they  had  been  closed  because  of 
fear  of  looting),  that  his  paper  currency,  which  was  worthless, 
must  be  accepted  by  every  citizen,  subject  to  beheading  if  his 
orders  were  disregarded,  and  that  the  members  of  the  Chamber, 
whose  president  he  took  as  hostage,  must  raise  in  two  days,' 
$400,000  additional  for  the  “defense  of  the  city/’  a  euphemism 
for  the  Governor’s  private  purse.  His  was  a  virtual  reign  of  terror, 
and  executions  for  the  most  trivial  causes  were  taking  place  on 
the  Bund  every  day,  while  the  city  was  under  strict  martial  law 
with  troops  everywhere.  This  situation  has  been  reproduced  in 
many  other  places  under  the  deplorable  rule  of  the  Tuchuns.  I 

10 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

know  of  only  one  large  city  in  Hunan  which  has  escaped,  namely 
Changteh,  where  a  Christian  general,  Feng  Yu-hsiang,  has  been 
reforming  the  city’s  government,  public  works  and  morale  in  an 
extraordinary  way. 

But  most  of  the  people  of  China  are  agriculturalists  living 
in  small  villages  away  from  large  cities,  and  their  life  goes  on 
with  almost  exactly  the  same  routine  as  for  centuries  past.  The 
people,  except  in  cities  or  on  the  line  of  march  of  one  of  China’s 
nondescript  provincial  armies,  are  little  affected,  living  peaceably 
under  the  village  “headmen.”  These,  and  the  business  guilds, 
family  organization,  and  the  conservative  ethical  teachings  of 
Confucius,  which,  in  the  main,  intelligent  missionaries  should 
and  do  respect,  are  the  principal  forces  which  prevent  anarchy. 
To  establish  a  strong  and  honest  government  in  China  will  be  a 
long  process.  The  first  step  is  to  put  into  effect  the  Consortium, 
whereby  Britain,  France,  Japan  and  America  will  make  certain 
loans  for  improvement  to  the  government  with  the  understanding 
that  the  Military  Governors  be  put  out  of  office  and  their  troops 
disbanded  and  used  for  the  construction  of  public  works.  This,  and 
the  training  of  an  adequate  number  of  capable,  public-spirited 
leaders  of  the  future  at  institutions  like  Ya-li,  are  the  only  hope 
of  preventing  the  repetition  of  the  conditions  which  we  found  in 
Changsha.  Fortunately  the  situation  has  greatly  cleared  up  in 
the  past  two  months  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  good 
Province  of  Hunan  with  its  sturdy  peace-loving  people  will  soon 
cease  to  be  the  pawn  of  rival  political  parties. 

We  saw  no  signs  of  serious  anti-foreign  or  anti-Christian 
feeling.  When  I  was  in  China  twenty-four  years  ago,  mobs  would 
have  been  attacking  foreigners  under  the  disturbed  conditions 
which  prevail  today.  Then  foreigners  had  to  seek  the  protection 
of  the  Yamen;  now  the  Chinese  think  their  best  chance  of  safety 
is  under  the  roof  of  the  foreigner,  whether  he  be  missionary  or 
merchant.  The  people  know  that  the  “missionary,”  to  use  a  much 
misunderstood  word,  is  their  friend,  and  that  in  the  long  run  his 
teachings  will  do  more  than  anything  else  to  rid  China  of  her 
worst  enemy,  the  corrupt  official.  It  was  also  evident  that  in  spite 
of  the  unfortunate  acquiescence  of  America’s  representatives  at 
Paris  in  the  Shantung  award,  the  United  States  holds  a  position 
of  greater  respect  than  any  other  country.  The  American  flag 

11 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

was  seen  flying  over  every  Chinese  home  that  could  find  the 
slightest  excuse  for  it,  because  of  the  Hay  doctrine,  the  return  of 
the  Boxer  indemnity,  the  protest  of  America  alone  among  the 
great  powers  against  “the  twenty-one  demands”  of  Japan,  and 
the  general  confidence  in  American  idealism. 

The  disturbed  political-military  situation  has  affected  Ya-li 
less  than  might  have  been  expected.  It  has  resulted  in  a  slight 
deciease  in  the  amount  of  money  secured  from  the  people  of 
Hunan  for  the  institution’s  medical  work,  and  has  occasioned  the 
withdrawal  of  some  students.  It  has  also  made  supplies  and  labor 
more  expensive,  but  in  the  main  the  work  has  gone  on  as  usual, 
and  Ya-li,  owing  to  the  special  services  which  it  has  been  able  to 
lender  to  the  community  during  this  difficult  period,  has  emerged 
with  an  increased  local  prestige.  The  buildings  of  the  institution, 
and  especially  the  Hospital  and  the  Medical  School,  were  places 
of  refuge  during  our  stay  in  Changsha  for  many  women  and 
children  who  did  not  dare  stay  in  their  own  homes  because  of  the 
demoralized  soldiery.  The  Hospital  took  care  of  the  wounded  of 
both  armies ;  the  students  helped  in  relief  work  and  did  it  gladly. 

I  accompanied  a  group  of  them  bearing  Red  Cross  banners 
through  the  streets  of  Changsha  before  daybreak  the  morning 
wnen  the  city  changed  hands.  Many  refugees  were  brought  back 
to  Ya-li.  The  bachelors  of  the  Faculty  were  in  demand  by 
Chinese  members  of  the  staff  living  in  Changsha,  as  the  presence 
of  a  foreigner  in  the  house  was  considered  the  best  guarantee  of 
protection.  One  of  the  most  pathetic  and  appealing  incidents  of 
my  stay  was  seeing  Mr.  Vorys — a  fine  example  of  the  one-year 
men  from  Yale— leading  about  fifty  wounded  soldiers  who 'had 
been  abandoned  by  the  retreating  Northern  army.  They  had 
evidently  received  very  poor  care  and  were  most  appreciative  of 
the  protection  and  help  given  them  by  Ya-li.  Mr.  Gage  was  present 
at  important  conferences  with  representatives  of  the  gentry  and 
the  foreigners,  and  used  his  strong  influence  for  the  maintenance 
of  peace  and  order  in  the  community,  while  Dr.  Yen  was  probably 
more  than  anyone  else  in  Changsha,  either  Chinese  or  foreign, 
the  man  looked  to  for  civic  leadership  in  the  emergency.  His 
house  was  a  sort  of  G.  H.  Q.  where  decisions  were  reached  on  the 
best  methods  of  safeguarding  Changsha’s  interests.  Here  mis¬ 
sionaries,  gentry,  foreign  business  men  and  officials  met  to  dis- 

12 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

cuss  the  situation.  I  shall  never  forget  my  last  evening  spent  in 
Dr.  Yen’s  study.  Telephone  messages  from  people  in  touch  with 
the  Governor,  from  the  railroad  administration,  from  a  neighbor¬ 
ing  city  just  taken  by  the  Southerners,  and  from  various  officials 
and  influential  citizens,  were  constantly  being  received  and 
decisions  reached  as  to  policy.  It  was  evident  that  the  gentiy  and 
all  the  other  respected  elements  trusted  him  implicitly.  So  Ya-li 
was  directly  and  indirectly  relatively  little  affected  by  the  dis¬ 
turbed  political  situation,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  was  able  to 
render  increased  service  to  the  community. 

3.  THE  FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  YA-LI 
CAMPUS  AND  PERSONNEL 
After  the  reception  at  the  Consulate  we  crossed  the  river  to 
the  Bund  and  walked  along  the  Maloo  to  the  Ya-li  Campus,  about 
half  a  mile  distant,  up  a  slight  incline.  The  Maloo  is  a  great  boon 
to  the  community  and  a  most  unusual  public  improvement  to  find 
in  China,  being  an  open,  undeveloped  boulevard,  110  feet  broad, 
extending  from  the  river  to  the  Hankow  railroad,  which  is  about 
200  yards  above  the  Campus. 

As  we  approached  Ya-li,  which  is  about  half  a  mile  from  the 
north  gate  of  the  city,  we  were  struck  by  the  Hospital  on  the  right 
hand  side,  and  by  the  buildings  of  the  College  on  the  left.  The 
front  view  of  the  Hospital  is  impressive.  It  is,  outside  of  Hankow, 
the  most  imposing  and  important  modern  building  in  central 
China.  Surrounded  as  it  is  by  the  residences  of  Dr.  Yen  and  some 
of  the  other  physicians,  and  by  the.  new  building  erected  by  the 
Chinese  for  the  Medical  School,  it  strikes  one  who  sees  it  for  the 
first  time  as  a  remarkably  well-planned  and  well-built  building, 
emphasizing  in  concrete  form  the  humanitarian  idealism  of  the 
modern  mission  movement.  It  has  an  added  interest  to  Yale  men 
because  of  being  designed  by  a  graduate — Mr.  James  Gamble 
Rogers — the  architect  of  the  beautiful  Memorial  Quadrangle  in 
New  Haven. 

The  buildings  on  the  other  side  of  the  Maloo  are  devoted  to 
the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  its  Preparatory  Depart¬ 
ment.  The  general  style  of  architecture  adopted — an  adaptation 
of  Chinese  forms  to  the  demands  of  western  education  is  ad¬ 
mirable,  and  the  general  plan  of  Messrs.  Murphy  and  Dana,  which 

13 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 
should  be  caiefully  followed,  is  dignified  and  worthy  of  a  collegi¬ 
ate  institution.  The  three  completed  buildings  of  the  permanent 
academic  group,  namely,  the  Dormitory,  Science  Laboratory, 
and  Chapel,  are  highly  satisfactory,  while  the  temporary  building 
for  offices  and  classrooms,  and  the  open-air  gymnasium  are  well 
adapted  to  their  needs.  The  open  quadrangle,  with  the  athletic 
held  below,  is  dignified.  The  group  of  four  college  professors’ 
houses  and  five  bungalows — mostly  memorial  gifts — on  the  av¬ 
enue  leading  from  it,  gives  an  impression  of  the  coordination  of 
the  influences  of  family  life  and  educational  work  particularly 
important  in  a  country  like  China.  Of  the  various  buildings  the 
Chapel-  in  spite  of  a  too  small  belfry — is  noticeable  for  the  beauty 
of  its  lines  and  the  appropriateness  of  its  architecture.  The  more 
carefully  I  examined  the  buildings  of  Ya-li  the  more  convinced  I 
felt  of  the  wisdom  of  the  Trustees  in  employing  competent  archi¬ 
tects  to  design  them,  and  in  sending  out  at  considerable  expense 
an  experienced  man  to  supervise  their  construction.  We  owe  much 

to  Mr.  Stanley  Wilson’s  knowledge  of  building  technique  and  to 
Ins  thoroughness. 

.  The  CamPus>  which  is  situated  on  a  gentle  slope  with  charming 
views  of  the  hills  across  the  river,  contains  about  thirty  acres  well- 
graded  and  planted  with  trees  by  Mr.  Chang  of  the  Forestry  De¬ 
partment.  There  are  a  few  old  graves  near  the  center,  but  these  are 
soon  to  be  bought  and  removed  with  the  use  of  the  fund  provided 
by  his  father  in  memory  of  Donald  Frary,  one  of  the  most  re¬ 
spected  men  ever  connected  with  the  Mission.  The  grounds  are  in 

charge  of  a  devoted  Chinese  employee — a  real  college  character _ 

whose  massive  frame  has  resulted  in  his  being  called  Goliath.  He 

is  the  man  who  saved  the  Ya-li  buildings  in  the  city  when  the  riots 
occurred  a  decade  ago. 

The  favorable  first  impression  made  by  the  Campus  was  fully 
maintained  by  the  teaching  staff  and  the  student  body.  The  first 
evening  we  met  the  men  of  the  Faculty  together  at  Mr.  Gage’s 
house.  I  doubt  if  any  collegiate  institution  in  China  has  a  more 
competent  and  enthusiastic  group  of  teachers.  I  believe  that 
t  ere  is  more  pulling  together,  more  mutual  appreciation  and 
orbearance  at  Ya-li  than  in  almost  any  other  institution  of 
its  type  in  China.  It  was  impressive  to  find  sixteen  Yale  men  de¬ 
voting  themselves  to  the  same  cause  in  the  heart  of  China,  and 

14 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

showing  the  team-play  spirit  of  Yale  to  the  Chinese  and  to  their 
colleagues  from  other  universities  and  colleges.  In  fact  the  Facul¬ 
ty  members  form  a  very  human  and  appealing  group,  anxious 
every  one  of  them  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  Trustees  at  home, 
and  realizing  that  these  are  and  should  continue  to  be  in  most 
cases  originally  formulated  by  them  as  the  active  men  at  close 
grip  with  the  actual  problems.  Letters  to  and  from  individual 
Trustees  and  members  of  the  Ya-li  staff  discussing  in  a  friendly 
and  constructive  way  the  problems  of  the  Mission  do  much  to 
maintain  that  personal  touch  which  encourages  the  right  esprit- 
de-corps.  I  found  in  this  connection  how  much  the  letters  of  our 
Chairman  and  Secretary — Professor  Williams  and  Mr.  Wilder — - 
were  appreciated. 

I  cannot  over-emphasize  the  impression  made  by  the  Yale 
personnel — both  men  and  women.  The  teachers  and  nurses  are  all 
well  fitted  for  their  work.  The  men,  and  those  women  who  are 
salaried  members  of  the  staff,  were  chosen  with  this  object  in 
mind,  so  the  result  in  their  cases  was  to  be  expected,  but  when  the 
wives  of  the  Mission,  in  addition  to  their  household  duties,  render 
large  and  uncompensated  additional  service,  it  is  worthy  of  com¬ 
ment.  Mrs.  Gage  helps  in  the  teaching  of  Pediatrics,  Mrs.  Hume 
and  Mrs.  Yen  have  organized  the  Social  Service  department, 
Mrs.  Dunham  teaches  the  Mission  Sunday  School,  Mrs.  Powell 
acts  as  Librarian,  and  so  the  list  might  be  continued  through  the 
staff. 

I  was  much  pleased  to  find  the  high  regard  in  which  the  perma¬ 
nent  Chinese  members  of  the  Faculty  were  held  everywhere.  Dr. 
Yen  is  in  many  respects  the  most  influential  citizen  of  Changsha. 
Mr.  Chang  and  Mr.  Zee — also  both  Yale  graduates — are  highly 
regarded,  both  as  men  and  teachers.  The  Trustees  should  do  all 
in  their  power  to  encourage  their  special  work.  The  former  is  the 
leading  authority  on  Forestry  in  central  China;  the  latter  the 
man  best  qualified  to  do  for  teaching  and  research  in  Industrial 
Chemistry  in  China  what  Professor  Treat  B.  Johnson  of  Yale 
has  done  in  the  same  field  in  America.  Indeed  the  policy  initiated 
by  Ya-li  of  admitting  Chinese  on  equal  terms  with  Americans  to 
the  permanent  Faculty  has  fully  justified  itself.  Two  or  three  grad¬ 
uates  are  already  back  on  the  teaching  staff,  and  are  having  the 
same  influence  in  keeping  the  students  loyal  to  the  ideals  of  the 

15 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

institution  that  we  find  from  similar  causes  in  New  Haven.  The 
graduates  will  become  and  should  become  an  increasingly  im¬ 
portant  factor  in  determining  its  policy.  Already  there  is  a  Ya-li 
Alumni  Association  in  Peking  with  30  members,  and  others  at 
Pomona  College  in  California  and  at  the  University  of  Illinois. 
It  will  not  be  long  before  similar  organizations  are  formed  in 
Changsha,  Hankow,  Shanghai  and,  I  hope,  New  Haven. 

The  student  body,  which  is  drawn  from  over  half  of  the  Chinese 
provinces,  impressed  me  as  wide  awake,  interested  in  their 
studies  and  in  their  games,  and  potential  material  of  profound 
significance  for  the  future  of  China.  They  are  youth  of  high 
spirit,  occasionally  going  on  strike  for  patriotic  purposes,  such 
as  to  show  their  disapproval  of  the  pro-Japanese  acts  of  certain 
corrupt  Cabinet  members,  or  of  the  Shantung  award.  Incidentally 
these  strikes  organized  by  a  national  Student  Movement  have  done 
much  to  create  a  feeling  of  nationality  and  patriotism.  Mentally 
the  students  are  in  many  respects  equal  to  those  of  America,  and 
in  some  respects,  such  as  in  the  development  of  the  memory, 
superior.  Physically  they  are  inferior,  but  sanitary  living,  athletics 
and  compulsory  exercise  are  rapidly  improving  health  conditions. 
They  have  taken  up  the  games  of  the  West  with  enthusiasm,  es¬ 
pecially  football,  basketball  and  track  sports.  At  present  their 
contests  are  mainly  between  classes,  but  when  the  railroad  service 
to  Hankow  is  regularly  installed  it  is  not  improbable  that  annual 
matches  with  Boone  University  will  be  in  order. 

I  was  particularly  impressed  with  an  address  made  by  Mr. 
Wang,  the  efficient  and  respected  Proctor,  regarding  the  changing 
spirit  of  the  students.  It  was  at  a  little  party  given  to  the  members 
of  the  graduating  class  in  the  College,  and  was  delivered  with 
great  earnestness  in  Chinese  and  interpreted  for  our  benefit  by  Mr. 
Tsao,  the  Secretary  of  the  Hunan-Yale  Medical  Association,  who 
acted  in  this  capacity  for  me  on  various  public  occasions.  Mr. 
Wang  stated  that  when  the  school  was  opened  the  boys  felt  that  it 
was  not  dignified  for  them  even  to  help  decorate  a  hall  for  some 
institutional  purpose  in  connection  with  Ya-li,  and  that  the  idea 
of  public  service  in  the  every  day  routine  of  life  was  almost  en¬ 
tirely  absent,  but  that  now  the  students  volunteered  in  all  sorts 
of  ways  to  help  the  institution  and  render  service  to  the  citizens. 
The  old  idea  that  a  scholar  must  grow  long  finger-nails  as 

16 


an 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
evidence  that  he  is  above  doing  anything  except  intellectual 
work  is  rapidly  passing  away. 

My  dominant  impression  as  I  walked  through  the  grounds  of 
Ya-li  lor  the  first  time,  and  it  has  continued  by  me,  was  one  of  the 
profound  significance  of  this  new  enterprise.  It  struck  me  as  al¬ 
ready  part  and  parcel  of  China’s  own  new  life.  The  Chinese  motive 
in  the  architecture,  the  knowledge  that  important  parts  of  the  edu¬ 
cational  work  were  under  the  joint  auspices  and  support  of  Chinese 
and  Americans,  the  emphasis  in  the  curriculum  on  the  Chinese 
Classics  taught  by  Chinese  scholars,  the  recollections  of  aid 
rendered  in  various  ways  to  all  departments  in  the  past  by  indi¬ 
vidual  Chinese,  the  placing  of  teachers  of  both  Chinese  and  Ameri¬ 
can  nationality  on  the  same  footing — these  and  other  facts  made 
me  realize  that  Ya-li  was  at  home  in  Changsha,  that  its  citizens 
were  as  proud  of  it  as  are  its  supporters  in  America.  I  felt 
deeply  thankful  for  the  progress  made  in  less  than  two  decades 
since  Professor  Wells  Williams,  who  has  been  from  the  first  the 
far-seeing  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  in  New  Haven, 
and  a  few  others  of  us  met  with  three  young  Yale  men  of  consecra¬ 
tion  and  vision,  who  have  all  gone  to  their  reward — Arthur 
Williams,  Lawrence  Thurston  and  Warren  Seabury — to  take  the 
first  steps  towards  the  founding  of  a  Yale  work  in  the  field  of 
Higher  Education  under  Christian  auspices  in  China.  How  they 
would  have  rejoiced  at  what  has  been  accomplished,  but  how 
rightlv  would  they  have  called  to  mind  the  pressing  needs  which 
must  still  be  met  before  the  ideal  of  a  Christian  University  for 
central  China  is  fully  realized. 

4.  THE  ORGANIZATION  AND 
INTERRELATION  OF  DEPARTMENTS 

Although  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  with  its  preparatory 
department  on  the  one  side,  and  the  Medical  College  with  its 
affiliated  departments  on  the  other,  have  separate  local  boards  of 
management,  they  are  both  part  of  the  work  conducted  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees  from  New  Haven,  and  the  interaction  between 
the  two  is  highly  advantageous  to  both.  The  medical  section  keeps 
Ya-li  in  close  touch  with  the  gentry  of  Hunan  and  with  some  of 
the  most  pressing  needs  of  its  citizens.  The  arts  section,  through 
providing  higher  education  for  the  graduates  of  mission  schools, 

17 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

keeps  Ya-li  in  touch  with  the  missionary  societies  and  gives 
picked  men  fundamental  training  in  the  humanities  as  a  prepara¬ 
tion  to  fitting  them  for  leadership  in  the  various  professions.  The 
new  Science  Building,  which  has  just  been  completed  and  is  to  be 
opened  this  autumn,  forms  a  natural  bond  between  the  two,  as  in 
it  pre-medical  education  is  to  be  mainly  centered.  The  Chapel 
also  meets  the  spiritual  needs  of  both,  while  the  Library,  still  in 
its  infancy,  will  soon  become  a  unifying  factor  in  the  life  of  the 
entire  institution. 

It  was  interesting  to  notice  the  simple,  democratic  form  of 
organization  adopted  for  the  different  departments  and  for 
their  coordination.  The  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  the  Medical 
College  and  the  Preparatory  Department  each  has  its  Faculty, 
and  its  Dean  nominated  by  his  colleagues  and  confirmed  by  the 
Trustees  at  home.  Dean  Gage,  Dean  Hume  and  Dean  Hail  are 
each  making  a  deep  impression  on  the  life  of  the  institution,  as  is 
also  Dr.  Yen  who — following  Chinese  custom — has  the  title  of 
Principal  of  the  Medical  College.  These  Deans  and  the  other 
permanent  members  of  the  Faculty  associated  with  them,  form, 
under  the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  Gage,  a  Governing  Board  for 
discussing  and  acting  upon  matters  of  general  institutional  im¬ 
portance,  subject  in  all  votes  regarding  appropriations,  higher 
appointees,  and  permanent  policy  to  the  approval  of  the  Trustees 
at  home.  I  was  present  at  meetings  of  the  Governing  Board  and 
was  impressed  by  the  desire  of  all  its  members  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  advance  the  welfare  of  the  institution  as  a  whole.  Each 
Department  fully  realizes  the  importance  of  all  the  others,  but 
the  academic  men  are  right  in  emphasizing  the  necessity  of  de¬ 
veloping  the  fundamental  work  of  the  College  of  Arts  and 
Sciences  on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  plans  of  the  medical 
men. 

In  my  judgment  it  is  not  a  question  of  strengthening  either  the 
collegiate  side  or  the  medical  side,  but  a  question  of  finding  ways 
and  means  of  adequately  developing  both.  The  Medical  College 
could  not  well  exist  without  the  Middle  School  and  the  College 
Preparatory,  to  train  many  of  its  best  men,  and  the  Arts  College 
could  not  continue  to  hold  its  high  favor  in  the  community 
without  the  medical  work.  It  is  a  good  object  lesson  to  college  men 
to  have  one  professional  school  well  developed,  which  will  in  time 

18 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

be  followed  by  other  professional  schools,  such  as  schools  of  Engi¬ 
neering,  Forestry  and  Education,  for  all  of  which  there  is  a  need. 
Furthermore,  what  has  been  found  true  in  America  is  equally 
true  in  China,  that  it  is  only  when  a  hospital  has  a  medical  school 
of  high  standing  connected  with  it  that  the  patients  are  assured  the 
best  care.  It  is  easier,  however,  to  secure  money  for  medical  edu¬ 
cation  than  for  collegiate  education,  and  too  much  emphasis  can¬ 
not  be  placed  on  the  fact  that  the  latter  is  vitally  important  not 
only  as  a  preparation  for  professional  training,  but  because  China 
needs  more  than  anything  else  leaders  of  broad  knowledge,  high 
ideals  and  strong  character.  Such  leaders  can  best  be  trained  in  a 
college  imbued  with  a  Christian  atmosphere  and  purpose. 

5.  THE  COLLEGE  OF  ARTS  AND  SCIENCES 
The  development  of  a  collegiate  institution  of  the  arts  and 
sciences  was  the  primary  object  of  the  founders  of  Yale-in-China. 
It  was  their  belief,  amply  justified  by  the  history  of  the  past  two 
decades,  that  nothing  is  more  fundamental  than  the  highest  edu¬ 
cation  under  Christian  auspices  of  a  picked  group  of  Chinese 
youth  who  may  be  fitted,  to  quote  the  words  of  the  old  \  ale 
charter,  “for  Publick  employment  both  in  Church  &  Civil  State. 
That  Ya-li  has  been  successful  in  carrying  out  this  policy  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  it  is  by  the  common  consent  of  the  best-qualified 
judges — both  Chinese  and  missionary — placed  in  the  group  of  six 
Grade  A  colleges  in  China,  the  others  being  St.  John’s  University, 
Nanking  University,  Shantung  University,  Canton  Christian 
College,  and  Boone  University.  The  influence  of  all  of  these 
in  the  training  of  leaders  is  marked.  St.  John’s  in  particular 
has  been  exceptionally  successful  in  the  quality  of  its  gradu¬ 
ates,  three  of  whom,  Dr.  Yen,  Mr.  Chang,  and  Mr.  Zee, 
are  members  of  the  Ya-li  staff.  Our  academic  work  is  under 
the  general  direction  of  Dean  Gage  and  the  College  Faculty, 
and  includes  a  nine  years’  course  of  study — four  years  in  the 
Middle  School,  two  years  in  the  College  Preparatory  (or  Junior 
College) ,  and  three  years  in  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
This  is  the  new  form  of  organization  adopted  to  fit  in  to  the 
Chinese  educational  system.  Heretofore  the  entire  course  of  aca¬ 
demic  study  was  only  eight  years,  but  the  extension  of  work  of 
College  grade  from  four  to  a  total  of  five  years  will  produce 

19 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

better  results  especially  in  a  thorough  knowledge  of  English _ 

which  is,  and  will  continue  for  a  long  time  to  be,  a  well  nigh  essen¬ 
tial  prepaiation  for  advanced  study  in  scientific  branches.  Among 
the  40  College  and  159  Middle  School  students,  half  of  the 
provinces  of  China  are  represented,  48  boys  coming  from  outside 
of  Hunan.  Twelve  received  the  B.  A.  this  year,  this  number  in¬ 
cluding  those  who  had  completed  their  work  during  the  two 
years  piior  to  \  a-li  s  securing  the  degree-conferring  privilege. 

The  academic  curriculum  is  similar  to  that  in  small  colleges 
in  America.  A  student  determines  which  of  four  general  lines  of 
study  he  wishes  to  follow,  namely,  preparation  for  the  pro¬ 
fessions  of  Education,  Medicine,  Engineering,  or  Christian  work. 

I  he  subjects  taught  are:  Chinese  (on  which  much  emphasis  is 
placed),  English,  French,  Religious  Education,  Mathematics, 
Business  Training,  Physics,  Chemistry,  Geology,  Biological 
Sciences,  (including  Physiology,  Hygiene  and  Sanitation), 

I  orestry  (including  Botany),  Philosophy  and  Psychology,  Edu¬ 
cation,  History,  and  the  Social  Sciences. 

All  the  students  of  the  College  of  Arts  and  of  the  Middle 
School  live  in  dormitories  (except  for  a  few  who  live  at  home), 
attend  the  regular  chapel  exercises,  and  have  their  meals  in  the 
buildings  in  which  they  live.  They  have  various  “  extra-curriculum  ” 
organizations  which  remind  one  of  American  college  life,  such  as 
athletic  teams,  glee  club,  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  debating  and  literary  so¬ 
cieties.  They  also  publish  a  quarterly  magazine  entitled  ‘‘The  Yale- 
in-China  Student.  They  secure  their  books  and  stationery  from  a 
well-conducted  College  Book  Room,  which  is  like  a  small  edition 
of  the  Yale  Cooperative  Store.  The  tuition  fee  for  new  students  is 
$120  a  year  inclusive  of  board.  This  is  reduced  $10  a  year,  if  all 
examinations  have  been  passed,  until  a  minimum  of  $80  is  reached. 

The  Chapel  and  the  Science  Laboratory  are  the  only  two  build¬ 
ings  on  the  collegiate  side  that  can  be  said  to  provide  adequate 
accomodations.  The  one  permanent  dormitory  is  excellent,  but 
its  facilities  have  to  be  increased  by  makeshift  arrangements.  The 
temporary  educational  building  will  meet  the  actual  needs  for  a 
few  years  but  must  ultimately  be  succeeded  by  a  permanent 
building.  The  same  is  true  of  the  Gymnasium. 

I  he  Science  Laboratory  deserves  a  special  word  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  latest  of  our  buildings  to  be  completed,  and 

20 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

that  it  represents  a  gift  of  approximately  $50,000  from  the  China 
Medical  Board.  The  actual  cost  of  construction  was  $45,000  Mexi¬ 
can,  in  addition  to  $6,000  spent  in  equipment.  The  building  was 
erected  within  the  appropriation,  but  it  has  not  been  possible  to 
provide  it  with  any  heating  facilities.  Mr.  Harvey  deserves  special 
credit  for  the  thoroughness  and  resourcefulness  with  which  he 
has  supervised  every  part  of  the  work,  a  somewhat  difficult  task 
with  Chinese  workmen  not  accustomed  to  American  methods  or 
standards  of  construction.  The  building  will  provide  adequate 
accomodations  for  the  instruction  in  Biology,  Chemistry  and 
Physics,  and  it  will  temporarily  house  in  its  top  story  the  pre¬ 
medical  students.  From  the  standpoint  both  of  usefulness  and  of 
architectural  beauty  it  is  most  satisfactory. 

The  administration  of  the  College  seems  to  be  most  effective, 
with  Mr.  Gage  as  Dean,  Mr.  Leavens  as  Treasurer,  Mr.  Harvey 
as  Superintendent  of  Grounds  and  Buildings,  and  Mr.  Wang  as 
Proctor.  Mr.  Hail’s  place  as  Dean  of  the  Middle  School  is  being 
temporarily  taken  by  Mr.  Williams.  The  Faculty  at  the  time  of 
my  visit  included  22,  of  whom  9  were  regular  members  of 
the  permanent  staff,  5  were  temporary  appointees  from  Ameri¬ 
ca,  and  8  Chinese  teachers.  The  policy  of  the  Board  of  Trus¬ 
tees  to  give  no  one  a  permanent  appointment  until  he  has 
secured  his  second  degree  through  specialization,  and  to  insist 
upon  a  year’s  preparatory  study  of  Chinese  at  one  of  the  Language 
Schools,  has  insured  the  high  scholarly  standing  of  the  Faculty, 
while  the  temporary  appointees  are  invaluable  in  assisting  in 
English  instruction,  organizing  the  athletics,  supervising  the 
social  life  of  the  students  and  aiding  in  various  other  ways.  They 
bring  new  life  and  ideas  into  the  community,  and  on  their  return 
to  America  are  a  factor  in  disseminating  information  regarding 
Ya-li. 

THE  PREPARATORY  DEPARTMENT 

It  is  essential  at  the  present  stage  of  development  in  China  for 
a  College  to  conduct  its  own  Preparatory  Department.  In  this 
way  alone  can  it  be  assured  of  an  adequate  supply  of  boys  who 
combine  intellectual  discipline  with  moral  training.  At  the  present 
moment  the  public  school  system  of  China  is  entirely  demoralized 
and  many  of  the  so-called  government  schools  are  closed.  They 

21 


✓ 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
will  doubtless  be  opened  again  in  a  few  years,  but  without  the 
nucleus  of  boys  carefully  trained  from  early  youth  on  our  own 

Campus,  we  can  have  no  assurance  of  creating  the  right  collegiate 
environment. 

The  efficiency  of  the  Middle  School  owes  much  to  a  modest  but 
very  competent  man— Mr.  Hail,  its  Dean— who  was  in  America 
on  furlough  at  the  time  of  my  visit.  He  is  serving  as  a  “Visiting 
Professor,  teaching  history  to  Yale  Freshmen.  It  will  be  inter¬ 
esting  to  get  on  his  return,  his  comparative  impressions  of  Ameri¬ 
can  and  Chinese  students.  He  has  the  work  at  Ya-li  thoroughly 
systematized,  and  the  discipline  is  excellent,  the  study,  dormitory 
life  and  play  of  the  boys  being  carefully  supervised.  As  in  the 
College,  the  instruction  is  all  given  in  English,  except  Chinese 
Language,  Literature  and  History,  where  the  professors  are 
Chinese  classical  scholars  with  slight  knowledge  of  English,  but 
in  each  case  holding  high  Chinese  degrees  which  entitle  them  to 
respect.  For  admission  to  the  Middle  School  a  knowledge 
of  Chinese  Literature  and  History,  and  ability  to  write  the 
language  are  the  requirements  on  which  most  emphasis  is  laid. 
The  other  subjects  are  Arithmetic,  Geography  and  elementary 
English,  the  last  named  being  waived  only  when  a  man  shows 
superior  acquirements  in  the  Chinese  branches.  Many  of  the 
students  are  admitted  to  the  Middle  School  on  certificates  of  the 
Hunan  Christian  Educational  Association  made  up  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  societies  that  conduct  elementary  schools  in  the  province. 

The  importance  of  the  work  of  the  Middle  School  in  China 
today  can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  The  demand  for  young  men 
who  know  English  and  have  some  foundation  of  Western  learning 
is  so  great  on  the  part  of  business  houses  and  the  government 
services,  that  about  five-sixths  of  the  boys  at  Ya-li  do  not  con¬ 
tinue  their  studies  beyond  what  it  offers.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
this  condition  will  soon  be  improved,  and  that  ultimately  we 
may  concentrate  all  of  our  attention  on  the  work  of  collegiate 
and  university  grade;  but  in  the  meantime  we  must  face  condi¬ 
tions  as  we  find  them  and  give  these  boys  the  best  possible  train¬ 
ing  for  useful  citizenship. 


22 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 


7.  THE  MEDICAL  COLLEGE  AND 
PRE-MEDICAL  SCHOOL 

I  was  impressed  with  the  fact  that  Dr.  Hume  and  Dr.  Yen — 
who  have  been  working  for  over  a  decade  on  the  important  prob¬ 
lem  of  medical  education  in  China — have  planned  wisely.  There 
is  still  a  great  shortage  of  personnel  and  equipment,  but  every 
unit  constructed,  every  man  and  woman  elected  to  the  permanent 
staff,  every  step  taken  in  the  field  of  educational  and  administra¬ 
tive  policy  shows  that  they  have  a  clear  understanding  of  China’s 
needs  and  of  the  best  principles  to  be  followed,  both  in  training 
doctors  and  nurses,  and  in  the  study  and  treatment  of  disease. 
These  main  functions  of  a  medical  institution  are  properly  co¬ 
ordinated. 

The  medical-educational  work  is  divided  into  three  depart¬ 
ments  :  the  Pre-medical  School,  Medical  College,  and  the  Schools 
for  Men  and  Women  Nurses.  The  pre-medical  students  are  to  be 
transferred  this  fall  to  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  owing  to 
the  opening  of  the  new  Science  Laboratory  given  by  the  China 
Medical  Board.  Instruction  in  the  Medical  College  is  in  English 
and  covers  five  years,  much  of  the  time  of  the  last  three  years 
being  devoted  to  practical,  clinical  and  laboratory  work  in  the 
Hospital.  The  total  number  of  medical  and  pre-medical  students 
who  were  admitted  last  fall  was  92,  but  due  mainly  to  civil  war 
conditions  the  number  was  reduced  so  that  at  the  close  of  the  year 
it  was  67,  of  whom  24  were  from  outside  the  province,  an  indica¬ 
tion  that  the  institution  meets  the  needs  not  only  of  Hunan  but  of 
central  China  in  general.  The  geographical  breadth  of  the  Medi¬ 
cal  College’s  appeal  is  also  shown  by  the  fact  that  entrance  ex¬ 
aminations  are  held  regularly  in  Shanghai.  Students  are  admitted 
only  on  the  completion  of  the  College  Preparatory  course  or  its 
equivalent. 

The  students  who  continued  their  studies  to  the  close  of  the 
year  came  from  16  mission  schools,  and  21  government  and  non- 
Christian  schools.  Boone  University  led  with  9  men,  Nanking 
and  Soochow  Universities  came  next  with  3  each.  Even  Canton 
Christian  College — which  is  distant  about  ten  days’  travel  from 
Changsha — sent  2.  About  two-thirds  of  the  students  are  Christian, 
3  having  joined  the  church  during  the  school  year,  and  5  others 

23 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

having  made  definite  decisions  to  accept  and  follow  the  teachings 
of  Christianity. 

The  Faculty  includes,  in  addition  to  Dr.  Hume  and  Dr.  Yen, 
Dr.  Branch,  Dr.  Crawford,  Dr.  Shibley,  Dr.  Foster,  and  Dr. 
Hadden.  Each  of  these  men  is  rendering  exceptionally  important 
service.  The  last  named  is  supported  by  the  British  Wesleyans. 
As  an  evidence  of  cooperation  it  compares  with  the  appointment 
of  Mr.  Hamlin  from  Hamilton  College  and  augurs  well  for  the 
future.  Mr.  Dunham,  the  efficient  Business  Manager  of  the  Medi¬ 
cal  Department,  and  Miss  Gage,  the  Head  Nurse,  whose  work 
cannot  be  over-praised,  should  also  be  mentioned.  At  the  time 
of  our  visit  the  pressure  on  the  members  of  the  medical  staff,  was 
excessive,  Dr.  Hume  being  in  America  on  furlough,  and  Doctors 
Crawford  and  Foster  being  at  language  schools.  Including  the 
absentees,  the  staff  numbers  6  English  and  American  doctors,  3 
American-trained  Chinese  doctors  and  3  similarly  trained  nurses, 
and  3  American  nurses.  The  foreign-trained  staff  is  quite  inade¬ 
quate  for  the  best  teaching  and  hospital  service.  The  war  has  pre¬ 
vented  the  securing  of  the  additional  doctors  and  nurses  most 
needed,  as  well  as  limiting  unduly  the  funds  available  for  salary 
purposes.  But  with  the  return  to  peace,  and  the  offer  of  the  China 
Medical  Board  to  continue  for  five  years  as  much  of  its  appropria¬ 
tion  of  $41,605  Mexican  and  of  $6,645  gMd  as  the  Trustees  can 
duplicate  from  other  sources,  and  the  offer  of  the  Commonwealth 
Corporation  to  give  $30,000  annually  for  the  same  period  for  the 
extension  of  medical  education,  the  future  seems  promising. 

The  work  of  medical  education  was  established  in  1914  by  an 
agreement  entered  into  between  the  Hunan  Ru-chun  Educational 
Association  and  the  Yale  Mission,  each  of  which  organizations 
elected  ten  members  to  the  joint  Board  of  Managers  which  controls 
the  Hunan-Yale  College  of  Medicine.  The  objects  of  this  coopera¬ 
tive  association,  which  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  efforts  of  Dr. 
Hume  and  Dr.  \  en,  as  stated  in  the  (<Siang-YaM  agreement  duly 
ratified  by  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  America,  are  as  follows: 

1.  To  maintain  at  Changsha  a  hospital  for  the  treat¬ 
ment  of  disease  and  one  or  more  dispensaries  for  out¬ 
patients. 

2.  To  maintain  a  medical  school  whose  curriculum  shall 

24 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
be  determined  after  careful  study  of  the  regulations 
of  the  Board  of  Education;  and  to  request  the  Board 
of  Education  to  depute  inspectors  to  examine  the 
standards  adopted. 

3.  To  maintain  a  School  of  Nursing  for  instruction  in 
the  art  of  nursing;  and  in  connection  therewith,  to 
maintain  a  department  of  Obstetrics. 

4.  To  maintain  a  laboratory  for  the  investigation  of 
the  cause  of  disease. 

Under  this  agreement  the  Hunan  Yii-chciin  Educational  Associa¬ 
tion  was  to  erect  a  medical  school  building  and  a  nursing 
school  building,  one  unit  of  the  first  of  which  has  already  been 
completed,  and  to  meet  the  running  expenses  of  the  medical  and 
nursing  schools  up  to  a  total  not  exceeding  $50,000  Mexican  a 
year,  while  the  Yale  Mission  undertook  to  erect  the  hospital, 
which  as  it  stands  today  is  the  most  complete  in  China  outside  of 
Peking  and  Shanghai,  and  to  provide  the  salaries  and  expenses  of 
teachers,  physicians  and  nurses  who  are  graduates  of  western 
universities  up  to  a  total  of  not  to  exceed  fifteen  persons.  In  gen¬ 
eral  all  the  expenses,  except  the  salaries  and  allowances  of  teachers 
and  physicians  who  are  western  graduates,  are  met  by  the  Asso¬ 
ciation.  The  Board  of  Managers  as  constituted  above  has  an 
Executive  Committee  of  seven.  The  agreement,  which  was  made 
with  “the  idea  of  permanence,”  but  definitely  for  only  a  ten-year 
period,  is  working  admirably,  the  only  serious  difficulty  having 
been  due  to  the  disturbed  political  conditions  in  Hunan,  which 
have  made  it  impossible  for  the  province  to  carry  out  in  full  its 
financial  obligations.  Owing,  however,  to  the  resourcefulness  of 
Dr.  Hume  and  Dr.  Yen,  and  to  the  active  cooperation  of  the 
Chinese  members  of  the  Board  of  Management,  the  work  has  been 
conducted  without  a  deficit  up  to  the  present.  The  gentry  of  Hunan 
have  shown  themselves  true  and  liberal  friends  in  the  crisis.  Their 
association  has  secured  during  the  year  $41,080 — twice  as  much 
as  last  year — and  has  contributed  to  the  running  expenses 
of  Medical  School,  Nursing  Schools  and  Hospital  $27,985.35, 
almost  exactly  half  of  their  total  cost  ($56,957-58  Mexican),  ex¬ 
cluding  the  salaries  of  the  American-trained  staff. 

The  foundations  of  the  Medical  College  are  so  sound  and  the 

25 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

general  results  secured  through  the  cooperative  agreement  are 
so  good,  that  it  requires  little  imagination  to  predict  that,  except 
for  the  China  Medical  Board’s  splendidly  equipped  institution  in 
Peking,  Ya-li,  if  advantage  is  fully  taken  of  the  new  condi¬ 
tional  gifts,  will  not  have  to  yield  the  palm  to  any  other  college 
of  medicine  in  China. 

8.  THE  NURSING  SCHOOLS 

These  two  Schools,  one  for  men  and  one  for  women,  each  pro¬ 
vides  a  course  of  two  years’  duration,  the  requirement  for  ad¬ 
mission  being  approximately  the  same  as  for  the  Middle  School, 
namely,  the  completion  of  seven  years  of  primary  education.  Be¬ 
ginning  this  autumn  an  additional  year’s  work — i.  e.,  the  comple¬ 
tion  of  one  year  in  a  Middle  School — is  to  be  required,  with  the 
hope  of  ultimately  demanding  Middle  School  graduation  or  its 
equivalent.  It  is  advisable  to  train  both  men  and  women  as  the 
social  traditions  of  Hunan  do  not  permit  women  nurses  to  look 
after  men  patients  under  certain  conditions.  The  whole  future 
of  our  own  Hospital,  and  of  other  hospitals  in  China,  and  the 
development  of  out-patient  social  service  work  depends  on  the 
supply  of  well-trained  Chinese  nurses.  These  Schools,  and  the 
one  at  Boone  University,  are  the  only  ones  of  their  character  in 
central  China.  They  are  being  temporarily  housed  in  the  top  of 
the  Hospital  and  in  other  places  pending  the  erection  of  suitable 
buildings.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  securing  an  adequate  supply 
of  students,  the  number  during  the  past  year  being  20  men  and  16 
women,  in  addition  to  7  men  and  4  women  probationers.  The 
devotion  and  efficiency  of  Miss  Gage  in  the  development  of  these 
nursing  departments  cannot  be  over-emphasized.  Her  success  is 
shown  in  the  fact  that  all  of  the  graduates,  20  in  number,  hold 
good  professional  positions,  except  4,  of  whom  2  are  private 
nurses,  1  a  medical  student  and  1  a  married  woman  caring  for  her 
home. 

Not  only  are  the  students  in  the  Nursing  Schools  given  specific 
training  for  their  professional  work  but  every  thing  possible  is 
done,  which  limited  facilities  permit,  for  their  physical,  moral 
and  spiritual  welfare.  It  is  frankly  recognized  that  a  nurse  is 
more  efficient  if  she  understands  the  teachings  of  Christianity  and 
approaches  her  work  in  the  spirit  of  Christian  service,  but  here  as 

/  26 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

in  all  the  other  departments  of  Ya-li  there  is  no  compulsion  or 
undue  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  students  in  matters  of  re¬ 
ligion. 

9.  THE  HOSPITAL 

The  Hospital  was,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  in  many  ways  the 
most  interesting  place  in  Changsha.  In  addition  to  sixty  ward  pa¬ 
tients  there  were  a  few  private  room  patients,  and  the  doctors  were 
taking  in  constantly  soldiers  wounded  in  the  fighting  between  the 
Northern  and  Southern  troops.  They  also  looked  after  the 
Red  Cross  hospital  and  the  sick  and  wounded  left  behind  by  the 
retreating  Northern  army.  Every  part  of  the  building  not  abso¬ 
lutely  needed  for  the  care  of  the  sick  was  occupied  by  women  and 
children  refugees  from  the  city  who  were  anxious  to  have  the 
protection  which  the  American  flag  and  Ya-li’s  position  afforded, 
and  were  willing  to  pay  a  small  daily  charge  for  the  privilege  of 
living  on  the  premises. 

The  building  is  of  permanent  modern  construction  and  ad¬ 
mirably  designed.  The  only  serious  defect  seemed  to  be  that  the 
kitchen  in  the  basement  is  gloomy  and  entirely  inadequate.  This 
was  due  to  economies  made  necessary  by  high  war  prices  when 
the  Hospital  was  being  completed.  Some  day  a  new  kitchen  in  a 
separate  service  building,  probably  between  the  two  main  wings, 
will  have  to  be  built.  There  will  also  have  to  be  more  adequate 
accommodations  for  dispensary  patients.  Each  year  has  shown 
improvement  in  the  routine  administration  of  the  Hospital, 
which  through  the  efforts  of  Doctors  Yen,  Branch  and  Hadden, 
and  of  Mr.  Dunham,  is  now  more  efficiently  conducted  than  ever 
in  the  past,  but  is  still  suffering  because  of  the  shortage  of 
western-trained  nurses,  the  inadequacy  of  surgical  and  other 
equipment,  the  absence  of  certain  specialists  such  as  a  dentist  and 
an  opthalmologist,  and  the  fact  that  dumb  waiters  and  certain 
other  desirable  features  of  the  original  plan  have  not  been  pro¬ 
vided  owing  to  the  expense  involved.  I  am  glad  to  report,  how¬ 
ever,  that  by  the  generosity  of  the  donor  of  the  building,  Mr. 
Edward  S.  Harkness,  the  defects  should  be  largely  removed  in 
the  course  of  the  coming  year.  The  general  plan  of  the  building, 
and  arrangement  of  wards,  offices,  etc.,  seem  to  be  admirable.  The 
principal  criticism  heard  was  that  during  the  past  winter  the 

27 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

wards  had  been  often  very  cold  owing  to  the  inability  to  provide 
adequate  coal  because  of  its  high  cost  under  war-time  conditions 
and  the  disturbed  situation  in  the  province. 

On  entering  the  building  one  is  impressed  by  the' votive  tablets 
hung  up  in  the  main  hallway  as  gifts  of  distinguished  citizens 
who  have  wished  to  show  their  appreciation  of  the  Hospital’s 
services.  Two  of  the  former  Governors  of  Hunan/ and  the  recent 
Chief  of  Police  of  the  city,  are  among  others  who  have  in  this  way 
expressed  their  sympathy  with  what  Ya-li  is  doing.  The  extent 
and  genuineness  of  this  appreciation  was  further  manifest  at  the 
dinner  given  to  us  by  the  gentry  of  Hunan  who  are  helping  to 
maintain  the  Hospital,  and  in  many  personal  conversations. 

The  Hospital’s  finances,  with  its  present  inadequate  staff  and 
equipment,  are  not  discouraging,  thanks  to  economical  manage¬ 
ment.  It  has  no  deficit.  Except  for  the  salaries  of  the  American- 
trained  staff  of  the  Medical  and  Nursing  Schools  it  receives  noth¬ 
ing  from  the  Ya-li  treasury.  Fees  and  the  Hunan  subscriptions 
meet  the  major  part  of  its  routine  running  expenses. 

The  staff  includes  io  doctors  and  internes,  63  nurses,  (of  whom 
most  are  however  in  process  of  rather  elementary  training),  17 
non-medical  workers  (including  Evangelists)  and  51  servants — 
quite  a  complex  but  smooth-running  organization.  This  staff 
during  the  year  ending  May  30,  1920,  attended  to  the  largest 
service  in  its  history,  namely  1,438  in-patients  (301  being  in 
private  rooms),  and  27,757  out-patients.  The  total  number  of 
hospital  days  was  21,324.  The  in-patients  are  of  all  classes,  mer¬ 
chants  leading  with  667,  followed  in  turn  by  soldiers  355  (an 
unduly  large  number  owing  to  disturbed  conditions),  scholars 
209,  manual  workers  185,  and  farmers  22.  Medical  cases  were 
771  in  number,  surgical  464,  eye  107,  genito-urinary  73,  obstetri¬ 
cal  23. 

Such  is  the  Ya-li  Hospital.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  is  the 
most  important  philanthropic  institution  in  the  large  province  of 
Hunan.  Its  very  existence  is  a  symbol  of  the  new  day.  It  cares  for 
the  sick,  provides  a  laboratory  for  the  study  of  disease,  and  affords 
the  means  of  teaching  the  doctors  for  the  central  China  of  the 
future.  It  is  little  wonder  that  the  people  of  all  parties  flocked  to  it 
for  protection  when  the  city  was  disturbed  by  rival  .armies. 


28 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 


io.  THE  LIFE  OF  YA-LI 

The  Ya-li  group  is  now  sufficiently  large  to  give  its  members  a 
helpful  and  agreeable  community  life.  With  an  American  staff  of 
over  twenty  members,  a  foreign-educated  Chinese  staff  of  half  the 
same  number,  a  group  of  thirty-five  Faculty  children,  and  some 
three  hundred  picked  Chinese  youth,  the  basis  of  a  very  interest¬ 
ing  and  natural  social  life  is  afforded.  To  these  must  be  added 
missionary  and  merchant  families  outside  of  the  Ya-li  Campus 
with  many  of  whom  the  relations  are  intimate.  The  Tyngs  of  the 
Episcopal  Mission,  the  Warrens  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission,  the 
Kellers,  a  Yale  family,  of  the  Los  Angeles  Bible  Institute,  the 
Lingles  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  Miss  Hasenpflug  of  the 
United  Evangelical  Mission,  the  Gottebergs  of  the  Norwegian 
Mission  (who  were  unfortunately  for  us  absent  at  the  time  of 
our  visit),  and  many  others,  have  pleasant  homes  and  interchange 
courtesies  with  our  families.  The  same  is  true  of  some  of  the 
homes  of  the  Chinese  gentry,  especially  those  who  are  connected 
with  the  Medical  School  Board.  It  is  interesting  in  this  connection 
to  call  to  mind  that  a  good  friend  of  Ya-li,  and  a  person  in 
whose  work  our  Faculty  is  much  interested  is  Miss  Tseng,  who  has 
started  a  girls’  school  under  Christian  influences.  She  is  a  grand¬ 
daughter  of  Marquis  Tseng,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  Chinese 
statesmen  of  the  last  generation,  and  was  educated  at  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  London.  She  has  dedicated  the  grounds  of  her  ancestral 
temple  to  her  work,  which  may  well  develop  into  a  women  s 
college.  Her  school  is  of  importance  to  \  a-li  as  it  is  educating 
the  daughters  of  the  Hunan  gentry,  and  incidentally  providing 
some  excellent  wives  for  our  students ! 

The  British  and  American  consuls,  the  heads  of  the  few  foreign 
firms,  the  representatives  of  the  Customs  and  the  Post  Office,  and 
the  officers  of  visiting  British  and  American  gunboats  add  variety 
and  interest  to  Changsha  life.  In  all  it  is  a  limited  but  agreeable 
society,  and  each  summer  there  is  the  opportunity  for  broader 
contacts  at  the  two  Hill  Stations  of  Ruling  and  ICikungshan.  Most 
of  the  members  of  our  staff,  who  can  afford  it,  go  to  the  former  as 
the  change  in  climate  is  slightly  greater,  and  there  is  a  larger 
opportunity  to  meet  pleasantly  with  non-missionary  as  well  as 
missionary  groups.  Kikungshan  is  a  newer  settlement,  north  of 

29 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

Hankow,  more  easily  accessible,  and  less  expensive.  The  principle 
disadvantage  here  is  that  the  missionary  and  non-missionary 
communities  are  rather  sharply  separated. 

During  my  visit  at  Changsha  the  Missionary  Association  met 
at  Ya-li  bringing  together  the  representatives  of  the  different 
Protestant  missionary  societies  of  the  community.  I  was  also  glad 
to  notice  members  of  some  of  the  Missions  and  of  the  business 
firms  at  the  English  service  in  the  Atterbury  Chapel  on  Sunday 
afternoon.  Mrs.  Lownds,  whose  husband  is  at  the  head  of  the 
Asiatic  Petroleum  Company,  has  been  especially  helpful  in  de¬ 
veloping  the  music  at  these  services.  On  Saturday  afternoon  there 
was  a  baseball  game  on  the  Ya-li  Athletic  Field  between  the 
foreign  residents  and  the  crew  of  the  American  gunboat  on  the 
river.  Half  of  the  Changsha  team  was  made  up  of  members  of 
the  Ya-li  faculty,  and  they  gave  the  Navy  boys,  who  were  a  sturdy 
lot,  a  thorough  thrashing.  The  one-year  bachelors  add  much  to 
our  athletic  resources,  as  their  presence  and  their  “mess”  do  to 
the  social  life  of  the  institution.  They  are  in  demand  for  oc¬ 
casional  picnics,  especially  to  Yolosan,  for  walks  in  the  country, 
tennis  games  on  the  Faculty  court  or  on  the  Island,  and  also 
for  small  dinners  and  teas.  Everything  is  done  very  simply 
and  naturally.  Such  occasions  are  to  be  looked  upon  as  adding 
pleasure  and  helpful  contacts  to  the  life  at  Changsha.  They  are 
kept  well  in  bounds  and  are  not  allowed  to  distract  from  more 
serious  duties. 

The  Governing  Board  has  recently  appointed  a  Religious  Work 
Committee  to  consider  ways  in  which  the  spiritual  life  of  Ya-li 
and  of  the  other  missions  can  be  advanced.  The  importance  of 
keeping  the  students  and  members  of  the  Faculty  in  touch  with 
their  own  churches  is  fully  realized.  Our  work  is  to  aid  all  the 
missionary  societies;  not  to  take  their  place  or  to  set  up  an  inde¬ 
pendent  church.  There  are,  however,  many  ways  in  which  the 
Chapel  can  serve  the  religious  life  of  the  Campus  and  community. 
I  suggested  that  the  Yale  precedent  of  monthly  corporate  com¬ 
munion  services  might  well  be  followed. 

The  Faculty  homes  are  frequently  open  to  the  Chinese  students, 
a  matter  of  importance,  for  there  is  no  way  in  which  the  ideals 
of  Christian  service  can  be  better  taught  than  by  giving  an 
object  lesson  of  what  the  Christian  religion  naturally  develops  in 

30 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 

home  life.  Chinese  students  also  greatly  enjoy  their  own  tea 
parties  and  meetings.  They  provide  their  music  and  often  get 
up  delightful  entertainments,  in  these  and  other  ways  showing 
that  the  points  of  resemblance  in  student  life  the  world  over  are 
many  and  close. 

ii.  THE  INFLUENCE  OF  YA-LI 

The  influence  of  Ya-li  is  manifold.  On  the  educational  side  it 
has  been  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  leaders  of  public  education 
in  Hunan,  where  Dean  Gage  is  regarded  as  the  leading  educa¬ 
tional  authority  in  so  far  as  western  learning  is  concerned.  The 
College  is  also  the  capstone  of  the  system  of  education  under 
Christian  influences  in  the  province,  the  mission  schools  of  all 

Protestant  denominations  sending  their  boys  to  Ya-li  for  their 

■ 

higher  education.  There  will  perhaps  some  day  be  a  provincial 
university  conducted  by  the  government,  but  even  then  the  private 
institution  will  be  as  valuable  in  trying  educational  experiments, 
and  in  standing  for  culture  and  character  as  it  has  been  in  our 
western  states.  In  the  meantime  it  supplies  the  young  men  of 
the  province  with  their  only  opportunity  for  higher  academic  and 
medical  education  of  a  modern  type.  A  significant  example  of  its 
influence  in  the  community  is  the  elementary  school  founded, 
conducted  and  supported  by  the  College  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Here  poor 
children  of  the  neighborhood  learn  the  rudiments  of  education  by 
modern  methods,  and  get  that  start  in  life  which  will  undoubtedly 
lead  some  of  them  in  future  years  to  Ya-li.  Teachers — thirty-two 
in  number — are  entirely  Ya-li  students  who  contribute  their 
time  without  cost  and  entirely  out  of  the  spirit  of  public  service. 
An  annual  concert  provides  most  of  the  money  needed  to  finance 
the  school.  The  Association  also  conducts  a  night  school  and  a 
Sunday  afternoon  service  for  employees  of  the  Mission. 

On  the  religious  side  it  is  a  factor  working  for  unity  and 
breadth.  The  Ya-li  Chapel  is  the  recognized  place  for  the  most 
important  religious  services  of  an  interdenominational  character, 
and  the  members  of  the  Faculty  are  leaders  in  all  movements 
which  have  to  do  with  the  coordination  of  missionary  work.  The 
College  itself  is  not  a  propaganda  agency  in  the  ordinary  accept¬ 
ance  of  the  term.  It  is  a  Christian  institution,  with  its  chapel  serv¬ 
ices,  its  emphasis  on  moral  principles,  and  its  requirement  of  a 

31 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
study  of  the  Bible  as  necessary  for  the  understanding  of  Christian 
truth  and  Christian  civilization.  All  the  members  of  the  Govern¬ 
ing  Board  are  earnest  Christian  men,  and  some  of  them  are  most 
acceptable  preachers. 

On  the  public  service  side  Ya-li’s  influence  has  been  important. 
The  most  striking  single  fact  has  been  the  cooperation  with  the 
Chinese  secured  in  medical  education  through  the  Siang-Ya 
agreement.  This  is  declared  by  competent  authorities  to  be  tne 
most  successful  case  of  educational  cooperation  between  Chinese 
and  foreigners.  There  is  no  place  where  the  gentry  have  shown 
more  appreciation  of  the  work  of  a  Christian  educational 
institution.  It  is  almost  as  natural  today  for  the  sons  of  leading 
citizens  of  Changsha  to  send  their  boys  to  Ya-li  as  it  is  for  the 
leading  citizens  of  New  Haven  to  send  their  boys  to  Yale. 

Ya-li  has  taken  the  lead  in  organizing  Red  Cross  activities, 
tuberculosis  and  public-health  work,  modern  forestry  develop¬ 
ment,  care  of  the  sick,  and  in  many  other  ways. 

12.  GROWTH  AND  RESOURCES  OF  YA-LI 
I  was  impressed  with  the  material  development  of  the  institu¬ 
tion  and  its  business  administration.  The  Campus  of  Y  a-li,  al¬ 
though  greatly  needing  enlargement,  is  on  the  best  site  that 
could  have  been  secured.  The  general  plan  and  layout  of  the 
buildings  are  admirable,  and  everything  on  the  business,  admin¬ 
istrative,  and  upkeep  side,  is  well  attended  to.  It  would  be  im¬ 
possible  to  find  a  more  competent  Treasurer  than  Mr.  Leavens, 
and  Mr.  Harvey  has  assumed  with  marked  success,  in  addition  to 
his  teaching,  the  burden  of  supervising  the  construction  of  build¬ 
ings  and  attending  to  the  care  of  the  property.  Graduates  may 
feel  that  not  a  cent  of  money  which  goes  to  Changsha  is  wasted, 
and  that  all  of  the  buildings  are  carefully  designed,  placed, 
and  constructed,  with  due  regard  to  the  general  plans  of  Messrs. 
Murphy  and  Dana. 

It  was  only  in  1902  that  the  Yale  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
was  organized  and  Lawrence  Thurston,  98,  sent  out  as  its  first 
representative.  In  1903  the  first  conference  of  Protestant  Missions 
in  Hunan  invited  the  Yale  Mission  to  Changsha  to  undertake  the 
work  of  providing  an  institution  of  higher  education  for  the 
Province.  In  1904  the  first  representative  of  Ya-li,  Gage,  ’98,  and 

32 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 
Mrs.  Gage  reached  Changsha  with  Professor  and  Mrs.  Beach,  to 
make  a  survey  of  the  situation,  while  the  following  year  Gage  and 
Seabury,  ’oo,  took  up  their  residence  in  the  City,  and  Dr.  Hume, 
’97,  reached  China.  In  1908  the  temporary  hospital  was  opened. 
In  1910  Dr.  Yen,  the  first  of  our  American-trained  Chinese,  joined 
the  staff.  In  1912  the  first  class  of  three  men  graduated  from  the 
collegiate  school.  In  1914  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  was 
opened  and  the  Hunan- Yale  plan  for  cooperation  in  medical  edu¬ 
cation  was  formed.  In  1916  the  first  buildings  on  the  present 
Campus  were  completed.  In  1918  the  new  Hospital  was  finished, 
and  in  1919  Yale-in-China  was  given  power  to  grant  degrees  by 
the  Connecticut  Legislature. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history  of  the  institution  as  outlined  in  Mr. 
Leavens’  excellent  “Graphic  Story  of  Yale-in-China.”  During 
the  past  year  it  had  a  total  enrollment  of  three  hundred  and  seven 
students.  It  owns  real  estate  and  buildings  in  Changsha  repre¬ 
senting  an  investment  of  about  three-quarters  of  a  million  dollars 
free  from  mortgage.  Of  this  amount  the  Hospital  and  the  land 
upon  which  it  is  built  represent  a  little  over  half — about  four 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  Society  has  accumulated  no  debt 
except  for  about  nine  thousand  dollars,  entirely  due  to  the  bad 
rates  of  exchange  during  the  war.  It  owns  thirty  acres  of  proper¬ 
ty  in  the  best  location  near  Changsha,  a  building  in  the  city 
now  rented  by  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  a  second  lot  in  the  city  used 
for  the  Pre-medical  School,  and  in  addition  a  tract  of  land  a 
few  miles  from  the  city,  which  is  being  used  as  a  forestry  station, 
and  is  a  place  to  which  graves  can  be  removed  from  property 
bought  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Campus  and  needed 
for  the  purpose  of  development.  There  are  ten  permanent  build¬ 
ings,  and  eleven  bungalows,  each  of  which  should  be  good  for  at 
least  a  generation’s  service,  and  several  other  temporary  buildings. 

Ya-li  has  been  carried  through  the  financial  difficulties  of  the 
world  war  with  the  heavy  extra  burden  due  to  theenormous  change 
in  the  cost  of  silver  (whose  total  fluctuation  was  from  48  cents  an 
ounce  in  the  early  days  of  the  war  to  a  maximum  of  $i-37>  ^ast 
winter)  with  less  serious  results  than  might  have  been  expected. 
As  the  salaries  of  our  American  staff  are  paid  in  gold  and  mostly 
spent  in  silver,  and  as  the  cost  of  all  supplies  and  labor  has  greatly 
increased,  the  need  of  largely  augmenting  our  budget  for  salary 

33 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

payments  was  obvious.  This  was  a  heavy  burden  on  the  trustees, 
and  the  months  prior  to  the  increase  of  salaries  were  equally  hard 
ones  financially  for  the  members  of  the  Mission  who  are  to  be  com¬ 
mended  for  the  spirit  with  which  they  met  a  difficult  and  trying 
situation.  In  round  figures  the  entire  Ya-li  budget  is  now  about 
$125,000  a  year  for  running  expenses,  of  which  forty  per  cent  is 
provided  from  subscriptions,  grants  and  fees  in  China.  When  new 
money  has  been  secured  to  meet  the  conditional  gifts  recently 
made  this  total  budget  will  be  increased  to  over  $200,000. 

The  Mission  has  secured  generous  subscriptions  from  its  friends 
in  America  during  the  past  year  of  $55,827.94  gold,  in  addition 
to  gifts  for  buildings  and  special  objects  such  as  the  sum  of  about 
$20,000  received  from  the  China  Medical  Board.  There  should 
be  added  to  this  $54,500  Mexican,  approximately  equivalent  to 
the  same  amount  in  gold  under  the  average  exchange  of  the 
period,  secured  in  China  during  the  year  for  fees  from  tuition, 
medical  treatment,  local  subscriptions,  and  the  grant  from  the 
Hunan  Government.  The  full  amount  of  this  annual  grant 
($50,000  Mexican)  has  not  been  received  during  the  past  two 
years  owing  to  the  disturbed  political  situation,  but  enough  has 
been  secured  to  meet  the  running  expenses  and  to  build  the  first 
building  for  the  Medical  School.  It  is  believed  that  with  the  re¬ 
tirement  of  the  Northern  troops  under  General  Chang,  the  pro¬ 
vincial  conditions  will  greatly  improve.  Competent  observers  are 
confident  that  the  grants  of  future  years  will  be  paid  in  full.  It  is 
gratifying  to  note  that  tuition  receipts  are  steadily  increasing  as 
is  also  the  income  from  the  Hospital.  During  the  five  months 
ending  with  May  1920  the  latter  was  $11, 557-83,  all  applicable 
towards  meeting  current  expenses. 

It  is  worth  noting  that  exclusive  of  the  services  of  men  on 
furlough,  the  total  costs  of  the  home  office  for  salaries,  printing, 
travel,  etc.,  were  less  than  $5,000,  being  not  over  5  per  cent  of  the 
total  amount  raised  in  America,  and  of  this  sum  a  considerable 
portion  was  specially  given  for  administration  expenses.  It  should 
be  remembered  that  the  home  office  is  not  merely  a  collecting 
agency  for  funds  but  a  bureau  for  recruiting  teachers,  securing 
supplies,  providing  publicity,  and  conducting  all  the  important 
business  of  the  Trustees.  Under  these  circumstances  it  is  inevitable 


34 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
that  its  staff  and  budget  will  have  to  be  increased  actually  if  not 
relatively  in  the  near  future. 

These  figures  are  all  gratifying,  but  Ya-li  will  not  be  on  a 
thoroughly  sound  financial  basis  until  the  income  of  all  depart¬ 
ments  is  increased  and  some  large  gifts  secured  for  endowment. 

13.  THE  POLICY  OF  YA-LI 

1.  General  Policy.  It  is  essential  that  the  Trustees  adopt  a 
more  definite  policy  for  development  than  has  been  possible  in 
the  past.  This  should  include  at  least  six  features : 

(1)  The  completion  of  a  well-rounded  College  of  the 
Arts  and  Sciences. 

(2)  The  placing  of  medical  education  on  the  highest 
level  of  efficiency. 

(3)  The  development  of  work  in  engineering. 

(4)  The  determination  to  build  up  a  Christian  institu¬ 
tion  of  higher  education  that  will  fit  so  perfectly  into 
the  needs  of  China  that  its  management  may  ulti¬ 
mately  be  transferred  mainly  to  the  Chinese  them¬ 
selves.  It  is  impossible  to  suggest  a  date  when  such 
a  transfer  may  be  made.  It  will  depend  on  the  char¬ 
acter  and  ability  shown  by  graduates  of  Ya-li,  the 
increase  of  educational  and  financial  interest  of  the 
Chinese  themselves  in  the  undertaking,  the  creation 
of  a  Christian  constituency  sufficiently  large  and 
influential  to  maintain  the  traditions  of  the  institu¬ 
tion,  and  the  stability  of  China.  Perhaps  these  con¬ 
ditions  will  be  brought  about  in  half  a  century. 

(3)  The  determination  to  continue  to  practice  economy 
by  keeping  expenses  within  the  limits  of  the  income 
which  can  be  safely  counted  upon.  Provost  Williston 
Walker,  the  competent  chairman  of  our  Finance 
Committee,  is  right  in  laying  emphasis  on  this 
policy. 

(6)  Cooperation  with  other  institutions.  This  is  so  im¬ 
portant  that  I  will  deal  with  it  in  a  separate  section. 

2.  Cooperation.  Ya-li  cannot  develop  adequately  without  active 
and  adequately  credited  cooperation  with  other  institutions  and 
societies.  There  are  precedents  for  four  kinds  of  cooperation : 

35 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

(1)  Chinese.  What  the  government  and  gentry  of  Hunan 
and  individual  Hunanese  have  done  should  be  considered  as 
but  the  beginnings  of  local  cooperation  and  support.  We  hope 
and  believe  that  there  will  be  endowments,  gifts  and  buildings 
in  increasing  number  erected  by  alumni  and  other  repiesenta- 
tives  of  the  people  for  whom  the  work  is  conducted,  and  that 
the  present  Siang-Ya  agreement  for  medical  education,  with 
such  modifications  as  experience  may  dictate,  may  form  the 

basis  of  a  permanent  arrangement. 

(2)  Colleges.  What  Hamilton  College  is  doing  through 
the  support  of  an  instructor  at  Ya-li  could  be  done  by  the 
alumni  and  students  of  other  colleges  and  universities  which 
have  not  the  means  to  support  a  separate  institution.  The 
plan  of  having  Exchange  Professors  with  American  colleges, 
and  Visiting  Professors  on  sabbatical  leave  should  be  encour¬ 
aged.  Professor  John  Rice  of  Williams  College  was  a  wel¬ 
come  visitor  and  a  helpful  Faculty  colleague  last  winter. 

(3)  Missions.  What  the  English  Wesleyans  are  doing 
through  the  support  of  a  member  of  Ya-li’s  medical  staff 
could  probably  be  arranged  with  the  Episcopalian  and  other 

missionary  societies  in  Hunan.* 

(4)  Foundations.  What  the  China  Medical  Board  and  the 

Commonwealth  Corporation  are  doing  to  make  our  work  of 
medical  education  possible  should  be  followed  by  other  Foun¬ 
dations  on  the  medical  and  collegiate  sides. 

It  is  only  when  each  of  these  forms  of  cooperation  has  been 
developed  that  Ya-li  can  realize  fully  its  opportunity  for  service 

in  China. 


*The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  invitation  extended  by  a  conference  of  the 

missionaries  of  ten  societies  laboring  in  the  Province  of  Hunan,  convened  at 

Changsha  from  June  19  to  21,  1903:  ........  .  fVlo  v  1 

“Resolved:  That  the  Conference  extends  a  cordial  invitation  to  the  \  ale 
University  Mission  to  establish  an  educational  center  in  Changsha,  it 
recommends  the  societies  working  in  Hunan  to  entrust  the  higher  education 
in  the  Province  in  Science,  Arts  and  Medicine  to  this  Mission,  and  also  to 
work  as  far  as  possible  in  primary  education  on  lines  that  conform  to  the 
plan  of  higher  education  that  might  be  adopted  by  the  \  ale  University 
Mission  The  Conference  would  also  recommend  the  Missions  to  consider 
the  question  of  entrusting  theological  education  to  Yale  University  Mission 
but  does  not  feel  able  to  give  any  indication  of  what  the  result  of  such 
consideration  will  be.  The  Conference  heartily  welcomes  the  prospect  ot 
having  University  Extension  and  special  work  for  the  Literati  carried  on 

in  Hunan.” 


36 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

It  is  not  impossible  that  all  of  the  above  forms  of  cooperation 
can  be  combined.  Dr.  Hume  has  suggested  that  Yale-in-China 
should  develop  into  an  American  University  Mission  in  China, 
and  there  is  much  to  commend  the  suggestion.  Under  this  plan 
Ya-li  as  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  would  continue  to  be 
supported  and  conducted  by  the  graduates  of  Yale,  the  Medical 
School  could  remain  a  joint  enterprise  in  which  the  Hunan 
gentry  and  Yale  shared,  as  well  as,  perhaps,  the  Johns  .Hopkins 
University  or  some  other  institution  with  a  strong  medical 
constituency.  A  great  school  of  technology  like  Massachusetts 
Institute  or  Cornell  might  support  and  conduct  the  much-needed 
Engineering  School,  which  would  bear  its  name  and  be  as  much 
its  work  as  Ya-li  is  Yale’s  work.  Other  colleges  might  come  in, 
supporting  other  departments  or  schools  named  after  them,  but 
all  part  of  the  all-embracing  University,  which  would  require  a 
Board  of  Trustees  representative  of  the  different  cooperating 
institutions.  It  is  possible  that  the  various  missionary  societies 
might  help  in  the  support  of  a  Union  Theological  School,  and 
that  some  Foundation  might  establish  a  laboratory,  or  a  particular 
department  of  work. 

The  plan  proposed  for  consideration  has  some  features  in 
common  with  that  suggested  about  ten  years  ago  by  Lord  William 
Cecil.  But  it  has  certain  marked  differences.  His  university  was 
to  be  in  Hankow,  was  to  consist  largely  of  different  denomina¬ 
tional  colleges,  and  was  to  be  under  joint  British  and  American 
control.  It  had  much  to  commend  it,  but  it  did  not  prove  to  be  a 
feasible  plan,  partly  because  it  necessitated  the  removal  of  Ya-li 
from  Changsha  to  Hankow.  A  precedent  for  university  coopera¬ 
tion  which  has  been  more  encouraging  is  that  of  St.  John’s  Uni¬ 
versity,  whose  medical  department  is  known  as  the  “University 
of  Pennsylvania  Medical  School,”  because  of  its  support  by  the 
graduates  of  that  institution. 

We  now  have  in  Ya-li  a  well-established  College  which  all  the 
Protestant  Missions  of  the  province  have  formally  agreed  to 
adopt  as  the  institution  for  the  higher  education  of  their  boys. 
There  is  also  the  important  help  that  comes  from  Hunan  and 
from  a  number  of  cooperating  agencies.  Hamilton  College  sup¬ 
ports  Mr.  Hamlin,  a  most  useful  member  of  our  staff.  The  British 
Wesleyans  support  their  representative  in  our  Hospital.  The  China 

37 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

Medical  Board,  established  by  Mr.  Rockefeller,  provides  half  the 
support  for  our  Pre-medical  School.  The  Commonwealth  Corpo¬ 
ration,  established  by  the  Harkness  family,  provides  a  large  part 
of  the  budget  for  the  Medical  College,  while  several  colleges  have 
made  inquiries  as  to  other  forms  of  cooperation.  The  problem  of 
how  cooperation  is  to  be  effected  in  the  wisest  way  seems  to  me 
to  be  perhaps  the  largest  problem  of  policy  before  our  Board  of 
Trustees 

As  I  have  thought  over  this  cooperative  idea,  which  has  never 
been  formally  discussed  in  our  Board  of  Trustees,  it  has  seemed 
to  me  full  of  possibilities,  especially  in  view  of  the  successful  ex¬ 
perience  of  the  American  University  Union  in  Europe.  During 
the  war  this  had  an  organization  that  was  almost  the  exact  pro¬ 
totype  of  the  one  here  proposed,  and  it  had  an  origin  similar  to 
Ya-li.  It  started  with  the  Yale  Bureau  in  Paris;  then  the  Massa¬ 
chusetts  Institute  of  Technology  suggested  that  it  start  another 
bureau  in  cooperation  with  Yale,  and  little  by  little  the  plan  of 
an  all-embracing  American  University  Union  was  worked  out, 
each  institution,  however,  conducting  and  supporting  its  own 
bureau  with  its  own  men,  but  all  subject  to  the  general  regulations 
of  a  Board  of  Trustees  representing  different  universities  and 
colleges  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  Some  would  doubt¬ 
less  object  to  such  a  broad  enterprise  on  the  ground  that  Yale 
might  get  less  credit  from  it  than  from  a  separate  undertaking, 
but  with  this  argument  I  have  little  sympathy.  Yale  has  already 
gained  a  great  reputation  from  its  pioneer  work  in  the  field  of 
higher  education  in  China.  It  would  continue  to  be  exclusively 
responsible  for  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences,  and  to  cooperate 
in  the  work  of  other  departments,  such  as  Medicine,  but  the  form 
of  organization  proposed  would  enable  the  “Yale  Mission”  to 
develop  into  an  institution  far  more  influential,  far  more  ade¬ 
quately  supported  than  would  be  possible  if  all  the  work  were 
developed  under  a  single  American  university.  Furthermore  in 
the  long  run  it  might  be  better  for  China  and  better  for  Yale.  The 
needs  of  an  adequate  Christian  University  for  central  China  are 
so  many  and  so  large  that  they  cannot  be  met  by  the  graduates  of 
a  single  American  institution.  Hence  the  need  of  considering  some 
larger  plan  built  on  the  Yale  foundation. 

That  Ya-li  will  “lose  its  life  to  save  it”  in  some  such  way  as 

38 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

this  I  have  no  doubt;  and  then  at  some  distant  day,  there  will 
come  the  final  transformation — when  the  entire  undertaking  can 
be  handed  over  largely,  and  perhaps  ultimately  entirely,  to  the 
support  and  direction  of  a  Board  of  Trustees  of  its  own  Chinese 
graduates.  When  that  day  comes  and  Ya-li  and  its  affiliated 
Schools  and  Departments  are  strong  enough  to  be  cut  loose  offi¬ 
cially  from  the  Yale  connection,  there  will  be  cause  for  profound 
thanksgiving,  and  the  spirit  of  the  old  institution  in  America 
which  created  the  new  institution  in  China  will  find  other  outlets 
for  its  beneficent  idealism  and  desire  for  public  service. 

3.  Trustees  and  Officers.  The  problems  of  educational  policy, 
finance  and  personnel  are  becoming  so  many  and  so  important 
that  the  Board  of  Trustees  must  be  strengthened.  It  must  command 
the  services  of  men  of  the  same  breadth  of  view  and  willingness 
to  give  their  time  to  its  work  as  does  the  Yale  University  Corpora¬ 
tion.  With  this  end  in  mind  it  is  probable  that  the  Trustees’  meet¬ 
ings  should  be  held  alternately  in  New  York  and  New  Haven  to 
suit  the  convenience  of  men  living  in  or  near  the  former  city. 

As  Dr.  Hume  is  so  much  needed  in  Changsha  it  would  not  be 
right  to  continue  him  long  in  the  position  of  Executive  Secretary, 
in  which  he  is  now  rendering  such  important  service.  The  Trus¬ 
tees  should  find  in  the  near  future  some  Yale  graduate  of  marked 
ability  as  his  successor.  He  should  be  able  to  carry  the  burdens  of 
the  home  office,  to  lead  in  securing  personnel,  subscriptions,  pub¬ 
licity  and  cooperation,  and  to  represent  the  Trustees  in  various 
conferences.  He  must  be  a  man  in  deep  sympathy  with  the  Mis¬ 
sion’s  Christian  ideals  and  with  its  broad  educational  purposes. 
Here  is  an  opportunity  of  real  significance  for  vital  service  which 
should  appeal  to  the  type  of  man  sought  after  by  the  most  rep¬ 
resentative  Missionary  Boards  and  Philanthropic  Foundations 
for  the  positions  of  Executive  Secretary  or  Educational  Director. 
It  will  probably  be  necessary  to  pay  such  a  man  a  relatively  large 
salary — perhaps  four  or  five  thousand  dollars — but  the  invest¬ 
ment  would  be  well  worth  while,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that  one 
or  two  friends  of  Ya-li  could  be  found  to  finance  it  for  a  few  years. 

The  time  cannot  long  be  postponed  when  the  Trustees  must 
face  seriously  the  problem  of  electing  a  President,  whose 
major  task  will  be  to  coordinate  the  work  of  Ya-li’s  different  de¬ 
partments  and  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  institution  as  a 

39 


« 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

whole.  These  tasks  are  at  present  attended  to  in  a  measure  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Governing  Board,  but  the  powers  granted  him 
are  limited.  If  and  when  the  Yale  Mission  develops  into  a  large 
cooperative  enterprise  involving  separately  supported  schools,  a 
President  will  be  a  necessity.  Furthermore  the  functions  of  the 
Executive  Secretary  and  Treasurer  should  be  separated  and  the 
former  released  for  all  the  field  work  he  may  find  necessary.  The 
recent  appointment  of  Miss  Dowd  by  the  Trustees  to  conduct  the 
routine  work  of  the  office  should  prove  most  helpful. 

4.  Encouragement  of  Research.  The  time  has  come  when  suf¬ 
ficient  teachers  and  clerical  assistance  should  be  employed  to  give 
those  members  of  our  staff  who  are  specially  qualified  the  oppor¬ 
tunity  for  research  and  publication  in  fields  of  educational  sig¬ 
nificance.  The  beginnings  have  been  made  by  Mr.  Gage’s  book  on 
the  study  of  English,  which  has  been  widely  adopted  in  China, 
Miss  Gage’s  manual  in  Chinese  on  Bacteriology,  Mr.  Zee’s  text¬ 
books  in  Chemistry,  and  Dr.  Yen’s  and  Dr.  Hume’s  scientific 
papers.  Mr.  Harvey  has  made  original  researches  in  Chinese  So¬ 
ciology  and  Mr.  Hail  in  Chinese  History;  and  Dr.  Latourette, 
who  had  to  retire  from  the  Mission  because  of  ill-health,  and  has 
recently  been  elected  to  the  Professorship  of  Missions  at  Yale  Uni¬ 
versity,  has  published  important  books  on  the  history  of  the  Far 
East  including  “The  Development  of  China”  and  “The  Develop¬ 
ment  of  Japan.”  Other  members  of  the  Faculty  have  also  written 
occasional  papers  and  articles,  but  the  total  literary  and  scientific 
product  of  Ya-li  is  still  relatively  small.  There  are  fields  of  in¬ 
vestigation  such  as  Chinese  Medicine,  Chinese  Folklore,  Chinese 
Psychology,  Chinese  Literature  and  Art,  Industrial  Chemistry 
as  applied  to  Chinese  problems,  Reforestation,  etc.,  etc.,  that  are 
most  promising. 

5.  Salary  Readjustments.  The  salaries  paid  our  staff  prior  to 
the  war  were  small,  but  under  the  circumstances  suitable.  The 
basal  salary  of  $800  gold  for  a  bachelor  and  $1200  for  a  married 
man,  with  allowances  for  insurance,  rent,  summer  change,  and 
children,  and  with  provision  for  medical  attendance,  were  as 
high  as  those  paid  by  any  other  missionary  society,  and  when  one 
gold  dollar  purchased  two  silver  dollars  in  China  no  complaint 
was  heard.  But  when,  during  the  war,  the  silver  dollar  rose  to  par 
with  gold,  its  purchasing  power  was  about  cut  in  two,  so  the  Ya-li 

40 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
Trustees,  in  common  with  other  similar  missionary  societies, 
doubled  payments  with  the  purpose  of  providing  equivalent  com¬ 
forts.  This  new  basis  should  have  been  maintained  until  the  rate 
of  exchange  was  again  stabilized,  when  further  readjustments 
will  have  to  be  made.  The  so-called  “cut”  of  last  winter,  which 
reduced  several  of  the  “allowances”  temporarily  without  ade¬ 
quate  warning,  worked  hardship  in  some  cases.  The  Trustees  have 
fortunately  restored  the  old  rate,  but  they  should  make  their 
action  retroactive.  There  must  be  a  small  margin  provided  over 
the  necessary  costs  of  actual  living,  for  books  and  charities,  pio- 
vision  for  old  age,  simple  pleasures  and  other  desiderata.  I  have 
collected  figures  from  different  Changsha  housekeepers  which 
show  that  recently  they  have  had  tp  sacrifice  efficiency  to  an  over¬ 
stern  economy. 

In  this  connection  there  should  be  a  readjustment  of  the  salary 
basis.  Under  the  present  plan  the  years  of  service  play  no  part  in 
determining  a  man’s  salary,  and  no  member  of  the  staff,  no  matter 
how  able  he  may  be,  can  expect  any  increase  of  salary  over  the 
amount  that  he  originally  receives,  except  as  allowances  come  to 
him  when  he  gets  married  and  as  he  has  children.  It  is  believed 
that  the  salary  basis  should  be  modified  so  as  to  provide  for  slight 
increases  after  each  regular  furlough  period,  up  to  a  given  maxi¬ 
mum.  It  is  also  necessary  that  salaries  of  members  of  the  staff 
when  on  leave  in  America  should  be  increased. 

14.  THE  NEEDS  OF  Y A  -LI 

Although  the  development  of  the  institution  during  the  eighteen 
years  since  its  foundation  has  been  most  encouraging  there  are 
still  pressing  needs.  I  shall  not  try  to  catalog  all  of  these  but  will 
merely  mention  some  which  seem  to  me,  as  a  result  of  my  visit  to 
Changsha,  to  be  of  special  importance.  Some  minor  needs  and 
some  recommendations  which  affect  matters  of  personnel,  salaiies, 
and  relations  between  the  Trustees  and  the  Mission  are  referred 
to  in  a  separate  confidential  memorandum. 

( 1 )  Institution  as  a  Whole. 

1.  Endowment.  First  in  the  list  of  needs  must  be  placed  general 
endowment.  The  institution  is  existing  almost  entirely  on  gifts 
to  income — a  dangerous  condition.  A  few  small  bequests  and  gifts 

41 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

totaling  $10,392.28,  almost  equally  divided  between  general 
endowment,  memorial  bed  and  insurance  funds,  form  the  only 
endowment  of  an  institution  whose  budget  last  year  required  the 
raising  from  various  sources  in  America  and  China  of  about 
$100,000  for  running  expenses,  in  addition  to  fees  for  tuition, 
medical  service,  etc.  Ya-li  will  not  be  on  a  permanently  sound 
basis  until  some  of  those  who  are  contributing  the  most  regularly 
and  generously  to  its  support  capitalize  their  annual  gifts.  As  a 
result  of  persistent  effort  by  the  Trustees  under  the  leadership 
of  Mr.  Clarence  H.  Kelsey,  the  President  of  the  Society,  of  Pro¬ 
fessor  Williams,  the  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  of 
the  three  graduates  who  have  successively  held  the  position  of 
Executive  Secretary,  namely,  Professor  Reed,  Dr.  Sallmon  and 
Mr.  Wilder,  the  list  of  annual  contributors  has  been  built  up  to  a 
total  of  nine  hundred  names.  The  number  should  be  doubled  this 
year,  and,  what  is  of  more  importance,  a  substantial  permanent 
fund  should  be  secured  to  give  the  institution  financial  stability. 
Ya-li  is  no  longer  an  experiment:  its  friends  should  show  their 
confidence  in  its  future  by  gifts  and  bequests  to  its  endowment. 
A  movement  to  accomplish  this  object  must  and  can  be  conducted 
so  as  not  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  University’s  Endow¬ 
ment  and  Alumni  Fund  campaigns,  the  history  of  recent  years 
having  shown  that  Ya-li’s  supporters  are  among  the  most  generous 
friends  of  Yale  University.  Their  desire  to  aid  the  mother  institu¬ 
tion  is  increased  as  they  realize  the  extent  of  her  indirect  con¬ 
tribution  through  Ya-li  towards  China’s  regeneration,  and  the 
reflex  influence  for  good  of  this  upon  Christian  and  public  service 
ideals  in  New  Haven. 

2.  Recruits.  Now  that  the  war  is  over  and  that  the  exchange  rate 
has  become  more  favorable,  everything  possible  should  be  done 
to  increase  the  number  of  qualified  men  and  women  sent  to  Ya-li. 
The  institution  is  becoming  so  large  that  if  the  necessary  expenses 
can  be  met,  almost  any  talents,  knowledge  and  ability  can  be  put 
to  good  account,  provided  a  candidate  has  good  health,  breadth 
of  view  and  high  ideals  of  Christian  service.  It  is  essential,  how¬ 
ever,  that  in  the  teaching  positions  only  those  men  should  be 
chosen  who  are  fitted  for  special  branches,  for  it  must  be  re¬ 
membered  that  the  days  when  we  merely  conducted  a  boy’s  school 
have  passed.  We  now  have  a  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences  and  a 

42 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
Medical  College,  and  slowly  but  surely  the  institution  is  being 
transformed  into  a  university.  I  can  think  of  no  place  in  the  world 
where  a  man  with  a  gift  for  teaching  and  a  desire  to  serve  his 
fellows  can  invest  his  life  with  larger  promise  of  usefulness.  The 
type  of  man  we  should  seek  cannot  be  better  described  than  in  the 
words  of  the  late  President  Bliss  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College 
in  his  remarkable  recent  article  on  “The  Modern  Missionary”  in 
the  May  “Atlantic.”  He  appeals  for  “men  of  intellectual,  social 
and  apostolic  power:  godly  men,  world  men,  modern  men,  re¬ 
sourceful  men,  moulders  of  civilization,  who  can  get  abreast  of  the 
width  of  the  opportunity  in  these  coming  days  of  reconstruction 
in  the  world — men  worthy  of  the  weighty  and  glorious  responsi¬ 
bility  lying  before  them.” 

3.  Teachers  for  American  Children.  There  is  no  public  or  pri¬ 
vate  local  school  which  Faculty  children  can  attend,  and  the 
Trustees  in  the  past  have  made  no  provision  for  their  instruction. 
Consequently  the  teaching  of  the  children  has  had  to  be  attended 
to  partly  by  the  mothers  of  the  Mission,  partly  by  teachers  en¬ 
gaged  and  paid  for  by  them.  This  seems  to  me  a  very  unsatisfac¬ 
tory  arrangement.  The  Trustees  should  promptly  secure  funds  so 
as  to  add  to  the  budget  the  service  of  certainly  one  and  probably 
two  qualified  teachers,  so  that  children  may  be  kept  at  the  Mission 
at  Changsha  through  the  elementary  and  middle  grades  at  least  up 
to  the  beginning  of  High  School  studies,  when  it  is  possible  for 
them  to  be  sent  to  America  or  to  go  to  the  American  School  in 
Shanghai.  The  Ya-li  Faculty  School  might  well  develop  into  a 
model  training  school  of  great  service  in  the  teaching  of  students 
of  education  in  the  College. 

4.  Land  Purchases.  It  is  essential  for  the  future  development  of 
the  institution  that  additional  land  should  be  purchased.  Prices 
will  undoubtedly  go  up  in  the  near  future  as  conditions  in  Hunan 
become  stabilized,  and  as  the  railroad  to  Hankow,  which  is  within 
200  yards  of  the  College,  gets  into  good  working  order.  One 
hundred  thousand  dollars  is  immediately  needed  for  this  purpose; 
more  could  be  profitably  spent.  Mr.  Harkness  has  generously 
provided  $50,000  to  purchase  land  for  the  expansion  and  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  Medical  College.  It  is  hoped  that  some  donor  will 
do  the  same  for  the  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

5.  Library.  In  addition  to  the  Seabury  Memorial  Fund  of 

43 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 
$10,000  already  secured,  $50,000  is  needed.  Nothing  would  do 
more  to  add  a  higher  intellectual  note  to  Ya-li  than  the  construc¬ 
tion  of  this  much-needed  library  building.  One  of  the  few  things 
connected  with  my  visit  to  Changsha  which  came  as  an  unpleasant 
surprise  was  to  find  that  our  College  Library  included  less  than 
2,000  volumes,  and  that  it  was  merely  housed  in  one  room  of  a 
temporary  lecture  building.  The  needs  of  the  more  advanced 
college  students  would  not  be  met  were  it  not  for  the  excellent 
private  libraries  of  Dean  Gage  and  others.  Many  important  Chi¬ 
nese  books  and  manuscripts  have  been  promised  by  local  gentry, 
and  gifts  from  America  are  assured,  when  a  satisfactory  fireproof 
building  is  constructed.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  ap¬ 
propriate  memorial  than  this.  But  the  sending  over  of  books 
should  not  await  the  securing  of  the  Library  building.  Some 
graduate  should,  for  instance,  be  found  who  would  meet  the  ex¬ 
pense  of  subscribing  to  all  Yale  University  Press  publications, 
thus  aiding  at  the  same  time  what  are  probably  the  two  most 
significant  Yale  graduate  movements  of  modern  times.  Other 
suitable  books — old  and  new — will  be  welcome,  and  may  be  sent 
to  the  New  Haven  office  for  shipment,  but  as  freight  charges  are 
high  and  as  we  want  the  Chinese  to  escape  our  past  errors,  would- 
be  donors  with  attics  full  of  old-time  polemical  theology  are  asked 
to  use  due  restraint ! 

6.  New  Residences.  These  are  greatly  needed  to  provide  for 
the  normal  increase  in  staff  in  future  years.  It  is  especially  im¬ 
portant  that  there  should  be  a  house  or  bungalow  for  a  visiting 
professor.  The  precedent  established  this  year  by  which  Pro¬ 
fessor  Rice  of  Williams  College  spent  half  his  sabbatical  year  at 
Changsha  should  be  continued,  but  this  cannot  be  done  in  the 
future  unless  a  furnished  building  is  provided.  A  permanent 
residence  costs  about  $9,000,  a  bungalow  $3,500  under  existing 
conditions. 

7.  Scholarships.  It  would  be  a  stimulus  to  students  in  the 
College  and  the  Medical  School  if  a  few  prize  scholarships  could 
be  endowed  which  would  help  enable  the  best  students  to  pursue 
graduate  work  at  Yale  University.  These  should  be  endowed  at 
at  least  $10,000  so  as  to  provide  $500  a  year. 

8.  Stenographers.  The  members  of  the  Mission  staff  holding 
administrative  positions  at  present  have  to  spend  too  much  time  in 

44 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

doing  their  own  clerical  work.  One  secretary-stenographer  for  the 
College  and  another  for  the  Medical  College  are  highly  desirable 
in  the  interest  of  efficiency. 

9.  Superintendent  Engineer.  The  grounds  and  buildings  of 
Ya-li  are  now  sufficiently  extensive  to  make  the  services  of  a 
superintendent  with  engineering  training  highly  desirable.  Such 
an  appointment  would  relieve  Mr.  Harvey,  Mr.  Powell  and  Mr. 
Smith  of  much  time  which  should  be  devoted  to  teaching  and 
research,  and  would  be  a  further  assurance  that  future  buildings 
would  be  carefully  constructed  with  the  utmost  economy  and 
efficiency. 

(2)  College  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

1.  Special  Teachers  for  Physics,  English,  Education  and  Re¬ 
ligious  Education.  At  present  the  English  instruction  is  mostly  in 
the  hands  of  the  one-year  men,  who  do  good  service,  but  need  the 
direction  of  an  expert  teacher  of  the  English  language  well 
trained  in  Phonetics,  who  should  devote  his  entire  time  to  organiz¬ 
ing  and  directing  this  fundamental  branch  of  instruction.  Mr. 
Powell,  who  is  teaching  Physics,  should  be  freed  for  the  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  work  in  Engineering,  and  Mr.  Gage  has  so  many 
general  responsibilities  that  he  should  have  assistance  in  the  vital 
matter  of  training  teachers.  Religious  education  is  now  a  subject 
for  which  special  preparation  is  necessary. 

2.  Permanent  Educational  Building.  The  instruction  in  the 
College,  other  than  that  in  the  Sciences,  is  given  in  a  one-story 
temporary  building  which  has  outgrown  its  original  purpose.  A 
new  building,  with  a  much-needed  auditorium  and  with  admin¬ 
istrative  offices,  would  cost  $200,000. 

3.  New  Dormitory  and  Dining  Room.  The  present  permanent 
dormitory  accommodates  less  than  one-half  of  the  students  of 
the  College  and  preparatory  schools.  The  building  that  is  being 
temporarily  rented  for  additional  dormitory  pui poses  is  too  far 
from  the  College  center  and  not  permanently  satisfactory. 

(3)  College  of  Medicine  and  Schools  of  Nursing. 

These  deserve  every  encouragement  both  on  their  own  account 
and  because  of  their  influence  in  maintaining  friendly  relations 
with  the  community.  The  decision  of  the  China  Medical  Board  that 

45 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 
it  cannot  now  carry  out  its  original  plan  for  developing  a  strong 
Union  Medical  College  at  Shanghai  places  a  specially  heavy 
responsibility  upon  us  for  medical  education.  The  main  needs 
of  the  Medical  College  are : 

1.  Additional  Professorships,  such  as  Pathology,  Pharma¬ 
cology,  Histology,  Physiology,  Anatomy  and  Ophthal¬ 
mology.  These  departments  are  being  inadequately 
cared  for.  The  grant  of  the  Commonwealth  Fund  pro¬ 
vides  the  salaries  for  some  of  them,  but  the  maintenance 
of  even  a  reasonable  hospital  staff  will  only  be  possible 
if  the  funds  can  be  secured  by  meeting  the  China  Medi¬ 
cal  Board’s  generous  offer  made  this  summer,  to  match 
dollar  for  dollar  in  the  interest  of  medical  education  at 
Ya-li  up  to  the  equivalent  of  about  $40,000  gold  a  year 
for  five  years.  To  secure  the  complete  payment  of  this 
conditional  offer  is  a  matter  of  prime  importance.  Now 
that  the  war  is  over  strong  men  can  be  found  for  the 
vacant  positions. 

There  are  few  ways  in  which  the  Hospital  could 
increase  its  services  to  the  community  more  than  by 
the  appointment  of  a  dentist.  At  present  foreigners 
having  serious  trouble  with  their  teeth  have  to  go  to  Han¬ 
kow,  which  is  a  long  and  expensive  journey,  while  the 
charges  there  are  exorbitant. 

2.  Additional  Nurses.  There  is  no  more  appealing  need  at 
Ya-li  than  that  Miss  Gage  should  be  given  adequate  aid 
on  the  nursing  side.  In  this  connection  the  work  of  Mrs. 
Edward  B.  Reed  who  has  led  the  movement  to  interest 
Yale  women  in  the  support  of  our  nurses,  deserves  every 
encouragement. 

3.  Dispensary.  The  work  of  the  out-patient  department  has 
been  growing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  present  rooms 
in  the  basement  of  the  Hospital  are  quite  inadequate  for 
this  purpose  and  are  needed  for  the  service  and  storage 
requirements  of  its  regular  work.  Fortunately  Mr.  Hark- 
ness  has  again  shown  his  interest  in  the  medical  side  of 
Ya-li  by  making  in  a  most  far-sighted  and  characteristi¬ 
cally  generous  way,  an  offer  to  contribute  $25,000  to¬ 
wards  the  erection  of  a  special  Dispensary  building  on 

46 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

condition  that  the  same  amount  is  subscribed  in  Chang¬ 
sha.  I  am  confident  that  our  Hunanese  friends  will  rise  to 
this  opportunity. 

4.  American  Nurses  Home.  We  have  no  suitable  quarters 
at  present  for  the  three  American  nurses  on  the  Hospital 
staff.  The  strain  of  their  work  is  particularly  heavy. 

They  not  only  have  the  routine  care  of  patients,  but  are 
responsible  for  a  large  part  of  the  teaching  in  the  Nurses’ 
Schools,  and  owing  to  the  language  difficulty  this  latter 
is  no  easy  task.  It  would  add  greatly  to  the  comfort, 
efficiency  and  esprit-de-cor ps  of  our  American  women 
nurses  and  of  such  American  women  doctors  as  may 
be  sent  out,  if  a  suitable  residence  could  be  provided.  The 
nurses’  homes  needed  for  Chinese  men  and  women  can 
probably  be  secured  from  subscriptions  in  Changsha, 
while  the  servants’  building  must  be  provided  from  some 
source.  The  need  of  more  adequate  kitchen  arrangements 
at  the  Hospital  has  already  been  referred  to. 

There  are  many  other  needs.  I  have  merely  indicated  those 
which  impressed  me  as  a  visitor,  as  of  most  importance.  The 
Mission  has  prepared  detailed  lists  which  can  be  secured  on  re¬ 
quest  of  major  needs,  and  of  odds  and  ends  required.  The  lattei 
includes  every  kind  of  thing  from  typewriters  in  the  middle,  up 
to  a  projectorscope  and  a  moving-picture  machine,  which  would 
add  greatly  to  the  educational  and  recreational  resources  of  the 
institution,  and  down  to  subscriptions  to  individual  magazines. 
In  fact  Ya-li  in  its  varied  needs  and  activities  can  supply  a  field 
of  contact  for  the  generosity  of  almost  any  one  in  the  line  of  his 
favorite  hobby  or  interest. 

The  Trustees  could  prevent  many  of  the  financial  difficulties 
experienced  at  American  Universities  by  adopting  a  geneial  lule 
that  non  income  producing  buildings  should  be  accepted  only 
when  their  gift  is  accompanied  by  suitable  maintenance  funds. 
If  donors  realized  the  cost  of  heat,  light,  repairs  and  janitor 
service,  they  would  be  the  first  to  see  the  justice  of  such  a  regula¬ 
tion,  which  should  be  departed  from  only  in  rare  cases. 


47 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE-IN-CHINA 

15.  THE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  YA-LI 

I  believe  that  there  is  no  institution  of  similar  character  in  the 
world  which  is  producing  better  results  from  the  investment  made, 
and  which  can  be  supported  with  more  confidence  by  friends  of 
higher  education  under  Christian  auspices.  Ya-li  is  known 
throughout  China  and  has  added  greatly  to  the  reputation  of  the 
mother  institution  in  New  Haven,  which  happens  to  be  better 
known  in  the  East  than  any  other  American  University.  This  is 
due  largely  to  the  fact  that  among  the  early  missionaries  to  China 
and  Japan  were  many  men  educated  at  Yale,  who  naturally 
urged  their  most  promising  students  to  go  to  New  Haven  for 
their  higher  studies.  The  presence  among  these  of  Yung  Wing, 
’54,  who  later  was  sent  to  America  in  charge  of  the  first  group  of 
Government  students,  was  another  important  factor. 

It  can  be  seen  from  this  report  that  I  was  deeply  impressed 
with  the  work  of  Yale  in  China.  I  know  of  no  enterprise  in  the 
Far  East  which  is  likely  to  contribute  more  directly  to  the  estab¬ 
lishment  in  China  of  a  stable  and  progressive  Government  of  the 
republican  type  desired  by  its  most  enlightened  citizens.  Ya-li 
cannot  be  looked  upon  as  a  narrow  missionary  undertaking.  It  is 
a  statesmanlike  attempt  to  meet  the  higher  educational  needs  of 
China,  by  those  who  realize  that  China  requires  in  its  leaders 
not  only  knowledge  but  character,  and  that  this  character  can 
be  developed  to  the  highest  extent  if  based  on  the  principles 
of  Christianity.  Ya-li  is  entirely  tolerant  and  appreciative  of  the 
teachings  of  the  Chinese  sages  and  sees  that  they  are  duly  pre¬ 
sented  to  her  students  by  competent  Confucian  scholars,  but  it 
cannot  be  blind  to  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  the  high  ethical  princi¬ 
ples  which  the  Chinese  have  inherited,  there  is  a  gap  on  the  side 
of  motive,  purpose,  and  spiritual  ideals  which  Christianity  alone 
can  adequately  fill. 

I  anticipate  that  Ya-li  will  pass  through  the  same  stages  of 
development  that  have  marked  the  mother  institution.  Both  started 
as  collegiate  schools,  and  later  developed  into  colleges.  Then 
came  the  period  when  professional  schools  grew  up  around  the 
College.  Later  will  come  inevitably  development  into  the  well- 
rounded  University.  In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  re¬ 
member  that  Ya-li’s  Faculty,  student  body  and  income,  sixteen 
years  after  the  founding  of  the  work  in  Changsha,  are  all  larger 

48 


A  VISIT  TO  YALE- IN-CHINA 
than  those  of  the  mother  institution  at  the  close  of  its  first  century. 
But  the  resources  of  the  American  people  in  general  and  of  the 
Yale  brotherhood  in  particular  are  so  much  larger  today  that  the 
comparison  loses  its  major  significance.  Rather  should  we  think 
of  Ya-li’s  need  of  increased  financial  support,  and  of  more  men  of 
scholarship,  breadth  of  view,  keen  sympathy  and  faith.  The 
interest  shown  there  reflects  credit  upon  Yale  and  helps  to  keep 
the  University  true  to  its  public  service  and  Christian  traditions. 

I  approached  China  believing  that  Ya-li  was  an  institution  of 
great  significance  for  the  Province  of  Hunan.  I  left  knowing  that 
its  influence  is  now  a  national  factor,  relatively  fully  as  great  as 
that  of  Yale  in  America,  and  realizing  that  in  preventing  mis¬ 
understandings  between  Orient  and  Occident  and  in  helping  to 
interpret  each  to  the  other  its  work  may  well  be  considered  as 
potentially  of  international  significance. 

ANSON  PHELPS  STOKES 

Yale  University, 

August  31,  1920. 


Printed  at  the  Earl  Trumbull  Williams  Memorial 
by  Yale  University  Press. 


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